Following a transcript of Texans coach Gary Kubiak's Monday press conference from Reilant Stadium.
Head coach Gary Kubiak
(on the health status of QB Matt Schaub) "He basically has the same injury that he had against Tennessee in 2007. It popped out, popped back in; he was able to come back and play. Obviously, a great gut check on his part. I think he's got a good chance of playing this week but I think we probably will not know more until about Wednesday or Thursday. But he's not feeling any worse today than he did yesterday as he finished the game and so we'll see. But I think he's got a good chance of playing."
(on if Schaub's injury could be a recurring one) "I don't know. It was kind of explained to me today that as he goes through the end of the season, if he doesn't have any recurring problems that he could be fine. But if he has some recurring problems he'll probably have to be reevaluated at the end. So hopefully there are no more shots on it and it doesn't happen again."
(on if he's worried about his job as head coach) "You know, I answer that the same way I answered it probably last year about halfway through: I've got so many people to worry about. I've got players, coaches, everybody in this building and like I said, it would be very selfish for me to be worried about myself. I'm very disappointed, as I think everybody is right now, but I don't worry about myself. I've got a lot of people that I've got to get a smile back on their face and I'm going to keep working to do that."
(on all the players' and coaches' futures being tied into his) "That's part of the business, that's part of coaching. And like I said, when you're doing this job for a living you're going to have your go at it and I'm having mine right now and I'm just going to try to fight through it and stay positive and try to get these guys to get a win and get some confidence back."
(on the team having so many penalties in the last few games) "I think yesterday we had, what, six for 37 yards. You know, that's not a significant number of penalties compared to what we had the last few weeks but they were very significant from a standpoint of when they happened in the game. Once again, we had two special teams penalties which has kind of been an issue for us. We had a big false start on fourth and three down in the red zone. It goes with the other mistakes. Obviously, the reason we're losing some close football games is because we're the team that's making some of the big mistakes at crucial times in the game, whether it's a turnover, whether it's a big penalty. And it's hard enough to win in this league when you're doing things right and when you're adding these type of issues to the game, then it makes it even more difficult. Obviously, for us to get back going in the right direction, these things have got to get cleaned up."
(on if he feels like the players have lost confidence) "Any time you're out the battling and going through what we're going through right now, we need something good to happen to us. Nobody's feeling very good today. I'm sure the players aren't, I know the coaches aren't and when you get back on the field and have something good happen to us to get our confidence—you got to play back to confidence, you got to make the plays to get the confidence back as a football team and we're going to do that. It's not a lack of effort. I said that yesterday. Everybody's playing hard, we're just not playing clean enough to win and clean enough to be a good team."
(on RB Steve Slaton) "He will see a specialist in Dallas tomorrow. I do not know his name offhand. He will be reevaluated and will be day to day."
(on what kind of specialist Slaton will see) "You know, I'd be wrong to say. I don't know."
(on if it's tough that all of this is happening in his hometown) "It would be tough no matter where I was. No, it doesn't make it any tougher. I mean, it's just part of it. It's part of the job, part of the profession, a lot of highs and lows, and you've just got to stay positive in your approach and believe in what you're doing and keep going. It's very difficult, but we will stay positive. We will work through it."
(on how much injuries are affecting their running game) "I think we've been adjusting all year long offensively. You start with our guards (Chester Pitts and Mike Brisiel) and then you go to O.D. (TE Owen Daniels) three weeks ago, so it's been a period of adjustments—finding a way to move the football and be effective as a team. Now, we get another adjustment with (RB) Steve (Slaton), obviously, so to pin put it one thing, I don't think you can do that. This game is about adjustments. It's about if you're missing a back or a tight end, you may have to throw the ball more. You may have to go to different personnels. You've got to find a way to move the ball and score points. The frustrating thing for me right now is identity-wise, offensively, we're struggling to find one because we've struggled running the ball. We've found a way to still move the ball, but we've got to find some points. We've got to find some production from that standpoint. Whether it's (RB) Ryan (Moats), who I think ran pretty good yesterday, or it's (RB) Chris (Brown), whether we get (RB) Arian (Foster) going—regardless of who it is, we've got to find a way to find some production there. Yesterday, we did everything we could to stay balanced. Then, we got out of balance at the end the last two drives when we threw the heck out of the ball. We've still got to find a way to stay balanced as a team."
(on if Slaton's health and production issues has changed how he views him) "I think Steve is a fine football player. Obviously, his second year has not been as easy or productive as the first one. How much does this add to those issues? I don't think we're sitting here saying that's been a problem all year long with Steve having his neck issue or whatever. I think it came up a few weeks ago and we're just having to address it right now, but I've got a lot of confidence in Steve as this organization moves forward. There's no doubt about that. Teams have an identity at that position. Good teams can line up and run when everyone knows you can run it. You saw that yesterday with Jacksonville with four minutes left in the game, and that's something we've obviously struggled to do this year."
(on the halfback option pass) "Obviously, it didn't work out. It's something we worked on all week. Worked on it Friday at the end of the day. Executed it pretty well throughout the week. If it works, it sure looks good, but it didn't work. I'm just disappointed in the outcome. Would I like to have it back? You bet. We didn't get it done. It doesn't matter why we didn't get it done or what happened. The bottom line is we didn't get it done."
(on what he is most proud of since he took over as head coach) "I don't know. Can I think about that one for a couple days and check back with you? I've got a lot of other things on my plate right now."
(on if drives him crazy the way all these games have ended) "I think our football team can win every week. There is not a game I go into right now that I don't think we can win. Obviously, we're not playing clean enough to win. That's what you're trying to do in this league. You're trying to get your team to where you think you can beat anybody, and I feel that way right now as a football team. But we've got to find a way as a group, and that's everybody – me, coaches and players—to play cleaner football and better football in crunch situations if we want to take the next step as a franchise. Over the course of the last four weeks, we haven't done that."
(on how, as a head coach, you get the final step to clean up for the team) "Well, the only way that I know how to do it through my time in this business is to just keep going back. I mean, you've got to keep go making the call. The call we make yesterday is not good, but this week, it may be third-and-five with the game on the line. We've got to call the play. They're not going to let us stop. You've got to have confidence that, 'Hey, this is what we need to do to get over the hump. This is what we need to do to win this game.' And I'm willing to step up and make those decisions, but I've got consequences when it don't go right. I understand all that. But I want our players to know that I'm going to work my tail off to be ready to make those calls for them, and make the right call, hopefully."
(on if he's concerned about a lack of effort) "No, I think we played very hard yesterday. There's two things that jumped at me when I watched the game. I did not like the way we came out of the locker room the second half offensively, the first three plays. For whatever reason, our attention wasn't there with what we did. And I didn't like the way we finished the game on defense with four minutes left. We probably had more missed assignments in the last four minutes than we had the whole game. So those are big, key factors in the game. I could sit here and talk about so many things, but when I walk here in the room with my players, those are two things that bothered me the most when I visited with them. So we'll start there and move forward."
(on if he thinks he is starting to lose players after some players questioned the play-calling yesterday) "No, I don't. No. And you know what? I don't blame them a bit. Any time you're not successful – as I just said, they're out there playing their hearts out, giving everything they have. And obviously, when something like that doesn't work out, for your quarterback to say he wants the ball in his hands, which is probably what you're referring to, I think, that doesn't bother me. Hell, I want him to want the ball in his hands, you know? I understand that. I don't have a problem with that."
(on if players have to make plays for him) "No doubt. We all have a big-time responsibility. It starts with me, to the coaches, to the players, we all have a big responsibility. Fortunately, I'm the guy that talks to you all the most, so I've got to answer a lot of questions and move on from that standpoint. I'm going to tell you the truth, with what I think and what I see. If I'm disappointed myself, I'm going to give you the answer that I believe. Yeah, we're all responsible for what we're doing."
(on if he looks in the mirror and searches for answers) "Do I ever look in there and say, 'I wish I had it'? I wish I had run a different play yesterday from the eight-yard line. I looked in the mirror a few times on that one in the last 24 hours."
(on if there are any other injuries) "(DE Tim) Bulman has a hamstring (injury). It looks like he's going to miss some time. (DT) Shaun Cody is fine. (LB Xavier) Adibi is going to be okay. Of course, (CB Glover) Quin is still day-to-day. He worked out before the game and came out of that okay. But he'll be day-to-day."
(on what is wrong with Quin) "Basically, he got dinged in the (Colts) game. A concussion."
