After Friday's practice at the Methodist Training Center, head coach Gary Kubiak and the Texans answered questions from the media. The following is a transcript of their respective interviews. * *
Head Coach Gary KubiakQB Jake DelhommeWR Andre JohnsonQB Matt Schaub
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Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on who the No. 2 quarterback will be) "It'll be Jake (Delhomme). I feel good that we made enough ground and he's done fine. We'll continue to work with him here in the next couple days, but I feel good with him being ready to go."
(on what impressed him the most about QB Jake Delhomme) "Well he's just done it before. He's played a lot of football and he can handle himself and I can trust what he's telling me he can do right now if we get in that situation. It's just a comfort zone from a leadership and the amount of rodeos he's been in, so we'll go with him."
(on how impressed he is with what QB Jake Delhomme was able to learn this week) "I'm very impressed with the guy as a person, class act. He's done a good job with T.J. (Yates) this week. He's excited about the opportunity he has to come help this football team and that's important. We knew what we were getting. We did our homework. I knew what type of guy we were getting."
(on how QB Matt Schaub's surgery went) "Everything went fine. He's out here today. He's doing well. I can't you exactly everything they had to do to it, but I think they had to put a little plate in there or something. So, the process starts now. You know Matt will do everything he can to get back as quick as he can."
(on if QB Matt Schaub will be on the sideline on Sunday) "I don't know if I want him down there. I may put him up in the booth. I'm not going to get him run over, so I'll try to make him go upstairs with Rico (offensive coordinator Rick Dennison)."
(on if QB Matt Schaub will be at the game on Sunday) "Yeah, he'll be at the game. (Matt) Leinart will not be at the game. I think I told you guys, Leinart's surgery got moved to Tuesday. It was supposed to be yesterday. He got back home, got sick and they moved it to Tuesday, so I'll let you guys know."
(on the fullback situation) "Lawrence (Vickers) will be a game-time decision. I did not practice him today because we don't do much on Friday anyway. I will work him out before the game and we'll see. He's come a long way, but we'll see."
(on former Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman) "I would just say to tell Mike just how proud I am of him and the job that he did there. As a coach, you cut on the film and you watch his kids play and the level that they were playing at there and the job that he did and was doing, I'm just very, very proud. I'm just very proud of him."
(on if he's had a chance to talk to former Texas A&M Head Coach Mike Sherman) "Yes I have. I talked to him for great length last night. He's a good friend."
(on if he has any thoughts about who he'd like to see as the next Head Coach for Texas A&M) "No, I don't. I've got enough problems right here."
(on how WR Andre Johnson is doing) "He's fine. Andre took everything in practice and you're going to see Andre just get better. Let's remember he missed six, seven weeks of football. I don't have a play count on him this week. I think he'll be fine, but he should get better every time out."
(on how much QB Jake Delhomme's familiarity with Atlanta's defensive scheme played into the decision to make him the No. 2 quarterback) "None. Absolutely zero. Guys we're out there looking for somebody to come in here and figure out what they can do to help us. That had nothing to do with it, absolutely."
QB Jake Delhomme
(on being the No. 2 quarterback now) "You know what, I'm worried about what I can control. I think that's the biggest thing. Third day of practice we had this week, I think things are sticking a little bit more. You just keep working at it. You keep grinding. There's no doubt T.J.'s going to play very well. I just think is evident by watching him on the practice field, the way he moves, the way the team responds to him. He's going to play outstanding. Then everybody else is going to do their job. I'm just going to keep preparing in case the unforeseen happens, go in and try to do the job."
(on just "driving the car" if he gets put into the game) "Yeah, I think that's what you have to do. You have to be smart in that way. That's the thing. If something does happen, just call the play, run it. I think there will be some familiarity and some things that might be called for me, but we'll go from there."
(on how he will respond if he needs to play on Sunday) "I think the biggest thing is don't make it bigger than what it is. I remember going into my first playoff start, that was the thing that I think our team preached because we were a young team with not a lot of playoff experience whatsoever. That's the thing that Coach (John) Fox used to preach to us, just go play the game. It's getting better on the outside, but it's not getting bigger on the inside and that's something that I think we did. That's how you gain experience and that's just something you just go out and play. Don't worry about everything else. Concentrate on that play and go forward."
(on what he learned about the Texans this week that he didn't already know) "Well I knew they were a talented football team, but just to watch the guys work, to me that's the biggest thing, watching those guys work. It's very impressive to see the dedication from early in the morning to late in the evening. That's something that's real impressive to me."
(on if QB T.J. Yates' mental toughness stands out to him) "Oh, 100 percent. I really and truly believe that may be his greatest attribute from what I've seen because this is not the easiest of systems, I will say that. For a rookie with no offseason whatsoever, it's very, very impressive. I've been around a lot of young kids, a lot of smart young kids and this is a different offense, don't get me wrong, but he's very, very bright. It's just an even-keeled, it's just an even demeanor with him."
WR Andre Johnson
(on if the "next man up" attitude is always assumed whenever there's an injury) "I mean, that's how it goes. The season's not going to stop just because you lose a player. That's pretty much it. You have to put the next guy in and just keep it moving. That's the game. That's part of it. Injuries happen. You hate to see what has happened to us where we lost two of our quarterbacks, but that's part of the game and you find out what kind of team you are by the way you respond. We've been responding to every injury we've faced this year."
(on QB T.J. Yates) "Like I said before, T.J.'s ready. He prepared well this week. He's ready to play. We can't worry about T.J. We have to be prepared ourselves. You can't spend your time thinking about 'Is T.J. going to be ready?' and you're not ready. We all have to be ready for us to win a game."
(on if anything changes with QB T.J. Yates playing) "It's the same game. It's football. Of course, it's not the same because me and (Matt) Schaub spent a lot of time together over the years, but it's still football. You have to go out, play the game, throw the ball, catch it, run the ball, make tackles on defense. It's still the same game. If we go out and play football the way we know how to play it, we'll be fine."
(on how QB T.J. Yates's arm is) "He throws the ball, he has a little bit more zip on it. I've been able to catch some balls from him when I was injured or whatever. It's a little different, but at the same time, that's what practice is for. You see guys catching balls from him during practice when the defense are doing drills and stuff like that. We're ready to go. We had a good week. I'm pretty sure the stadium will be rocking Sunday and we'll be ready to play."
(on if he has confidence that QB T.J. Yates can make any throw) "Yeah, he has a strong arm. He can throw the ball. Like I said, he's fine. We have to get ourselves ready. Like I said, we can't all just be worried about T.J."
QB Matt Schaub
(on how the surgery went) "Everything went well. Procedure went well. It's good to be back here in Houston, get home and be back with the guys here. But everything went well, according to plan."
(on if he's had a chance to talk to QB T.J. Yates) "I just got back late last night. I talked to him on the phone the other night just through some of the stuff with the game plan and everything. I talked to him this morning, but he's got enough things going on, coaches telling him stuff. Anything I can do to help him or support him, he knows I'm here and he's going to go out and play well."
(on QB T.J. Yates' state of mind) "He's fine. His state of mind, he has a calm presence. He has good poise and composure. He's not going to be deer in the headlights or anything like that. He's going to go out and play well. He understands his job and his responsibilities and I expect him to go out and play very well."
(on how impressive QB T.J. Yates' work was during the offseason) "Yeah, it was great for him to get down here, especially without having the OTA time and stuff in the offseason with coaches when that time's really important for rookies. For him to come down, work out with us, get in the book, I tried to help him out learning things. Then I think the start of camp helped him out well too because Matt Leinart couldn't practice for a good six, seven days at the beginning because of the CBA issues. It was just me and T.J. and he got a ton of reps, a lot more than any other rookie would probably have gotten, so I think that really helped him."
(on QB Jake Delhomme) "You know, I really didn't get to see too much from my vantage point, but he's a veteran who's done this a long time and he can come in and also help T.J. (Yates) out moving forward and help our team out with all his experience down the stretch run here and in the postseason."
(on what it will be like to be in the coaches' booth for Sunday's game) "I'll just do whatever I can to help our team."
