The Texans beat the 49ers 30-7 at Candlestick Park on Saturday night in preseason action. Here are the postgame quotes from both teams.
POSTGAME QUOTES FROM HOUSTON TEXANS
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
QB Matt Schaub
LB Brian Cushing
S Troy Nolan *
*DE Antonio Smith
RT Eric Winston
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on RB Arian Foster's situation) "We've got three injuries that are the biggest concern. Arian kind of tweaked his hamstring again – the one that he injured in camp. Only been 15 days, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed that he recovers. We don't think it's anything worse than what we were dealing with before. [LB Xavier] Adibi had a stinger and [S Glover Quin] got dinged a little bit. So that's the three guys that had little nicks coming out of the game."
(on who had the stinger) "Adibi."
(on what he thought about the defense) "I thought they were exceptional. You get turnovers… you get points off turnovers, six first downs, 100 yards. I think they were on the field for 40-something plays and the offense, we were out there for 80-something plays and they're playing their tail off. The thing that's exciting is to watch some of these guys, some of these new guys, making plays. When [S] Troy [Nolan] had his opportunities to play, the ball seems to come his way and he did it again tonight. Played extremely well and I thought that by halftime we had had enough plays by our ones on both sides of the ball and had a chance to evaluate some of the younger players in the second half. "
(on the offensive side of the ball) "Well, on the offense side, I was very disappointed with our penalties. For us to make a mistake like that on something that we work so hard at, that's very disappointing. But in this game, in this league, you're going to make mistakes and you're going to have bad things happen to you. Question is are you tough enough to come back and we moved the ball extremely well the first half. We bounced right back, put a big drive together. I like the fact that we responded a hell of a lot, but I don't like some of the mistakes we made."
(on the first-team offensive line) "Like I said I'll look at it, but when you move the ball and get 260 yards in a half in the National Football League, something good is happening."
(on the Texans' pass-rush) "It's been pretty good all preseason, coming from a lot of places. I was glad to see the first group looked really good. We're not concerned with who gets the sack, we're concerned with getting pressure on the quarterback. It was a good step in the right direction "
(on the way QB Matt Schaub bounced back after his first interception) "First off, he got put in a horrible situation. It's not his fault. He still needs to throw the ball away. But it just tells you, you have to have a short memory as a quarterback. He takes us right back down the field two or three times after that, so that's what playing quarterback in this league's all about."
(on Foster's reaction after he got hurt) "I think it's more frustration because he's been dealing with it through camp. You've got to know how cool it was out there tonight and we've been working in 100-degree heat for a month, so for us it was like a shock. I don't think he ever really got loose and got going. I'm just sitting here hoping it's what we've been dealing with before and he'll be okay for opening day."
QB Matt Schaub
(on the performance of the offense) "I think we had a lot of mistakes, we had more penalties than we have had in the previous two games. We had a turnover to start the game and a couple of fumbles. The thing about it is, guys made mistakes but we bounced back and made plays. It's not going to affect us in a negative way, we are going to use it as a positive, use it to move forward and use it as something to learn from. We will have a short term memory and move on to the next play, and a lot of guys did that tonight. Myself with that first play and moving on to the next drive and getting points. Throughout the game guys made mistakes but they bounced back and made a play. I think that shows maturity of our team. We can make a mistake but we can bounce back, it is not going to linger on throughout the rest of the game."
(on talking about all the mistakes after a blowout victory) "I was just speaking offensively, our defense played outstanding. Coach said our defense gave up six first downs and a little over 100 yards, so that is outstanding by our defense, getting some turnovers as well. We put them in a hole early and we were able to make enough plays in the first half. We left a lot of points out there with the two fumbles so we have to clean that stuff up. But I feel good about how guys reacted from those mistakes and moving on and growing from there as we start the season in a couple of weeks."
(on the first play and how he was able to bounce back from it) "It was vital. You come in and you have a plan on how you want it to go and it doesn't go how you want. We kind of had a different assignment upfront with the screen game and how we were doing it this week. There was some miscommunication there with myself, basically giving it to the middle linebacker was inexcusable but at the same time it happened and you have to move on and go and make the next play."
LB Brian Cushing
(on his feeling on the performance of the defense) "I felt good. We just wanted to come out and execute. We knew that this was going to be our last preseason game where we can get a shot to go out and execute, but I felt good. Anytime that you can go out and shut a team out like that is a good feeling for a defense."
(on if the absence of RB Frank Gore changed the game plan) "The game plan didn't change, but I'm sure as far as San Francisco they become a little less explosive as a team. He is a hell of a running back and having him out of their offense limits them a little bit, but they still have good backs behind him. We can't really base a game plan on whether a player is playing or not. We just have to go out and execute and do what we can do."
S Troy Nolan
(on getting a really nice jump on the football) "Yes, I did get a really nice jump. I was reading the quarterback and I just wanted to be aggressive, make a play on the ball. I saw the ball on the edge and tried to be aggressive. They're playing the ball and I thought about, all I thought about was getting to the endzone, scoring."
(on if he knew where the ball was going as the play was developing) "Yes, I kind of was reading the quarterback and I kind of glanced at the receiver's route. I knew he was running a deep over and I jumped it. The quarterback let it go and I picked it off."
(on patience and if he let things unfold in front of him as he brought the ball downfield) "Yes, I did. Patience. I've been trying to work on my return skills. Trying to work on my vision. But it was patience. I was letting my guys block, just reading the blocks and playing from there, playing off my guys."
DE Antonio Smith
(on the pressure that they got on the 49ers) "Oh man, that was awesome. Just to see various people hitting the quarterback, getting a hit on the quarterback, causing interceptions, getting sacks. I think that is the tell of this defense. That's what you want to do, have fun and fly around and blitz and make hits. It's just exciting."
(on if they're starting to come together as a first-team defense) "That's one thing when we had meetings this morning. That's what we have to establish now, get the defense down, got the defense down, start running it the way it's suppose to be run. Now, we have to establish ourselves as a team, come together as a team. When you're on the road, that's the only thing you just have and I think he's right about it. The home team has the crowd. If you're not excited about making plays and getting each other up and out there having fun, the game can get real tedious and slow, especially a power running team like this. I think these guys, we flew around out there today and I'm happy, man. I'm happy about how the defense is. I'm happy about how it's going. I'm just looking forward to it."
RT Eric Winston
(on the performance of the offensive line) "I think we did our thing. I think we were efficient, we were blocking pretty well, especially pass blocking. We opened up some holes. It was a good night. I think everyone just did their jobs, we went out and moved the ball well."
(on if the 49ers defense did anything that was surprising) "No. They are a good defense and I think that they are going to be a good defense. They line up and they play the 3-4 the way that they are going to play the 3-4 and they play it hard. We knew going into it that it was going to be tough running the ball because they are strong up front, but at the same time we felt like we can make some plays in there and get some yards."
POSTGAME QUOTES FROM SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
QB Alex Smith
QB Colin Kaepernick
LB Ahmad Brooks
RB Anthony Dixon
RB Frank Gore
LB Larry Grant
CB Carlos Rogers
S Donte Whitner
S Madieu Williams
LB Patrick Willis
Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
(on if most of the offensive struggles were on bad pass protection or the your quarterbacks struggling) "It's a bitter pill to swallow, when you're beaten that thoroughly in pretty much all phases. I think defense wasn't quite as bad as special teams and special teams weren't quite as bad as offense. Specifically with the offense, we didn't get any kind of rhythm going at all. It's on everybody involved with the offense: protection, route running, decision making - all those things."
(on if it's too early to really look at this and start thinking about making changes to that offense, particularly that offensive line) "Changes? What do you mean, changes? Schematically?"
(on changes to personnel) "I'll always look at all things when it comes to what you can control and that's what you're doing, how you're doing it, and who's doing it. So, you're constantly always evaluating those things."
(on if he is confident that he can have his team ready for the opener in a couple of weeks) "Yes."
(on why) "Because we have to. It's not an option not to."
(on why he didn't play RB Frank Gore tonight) "That was a decision that I made. I talked to Frank and told him what I was thinking and that was my decision."
(on why) "I wanted to see the other two guys. I wanted to see [RB Anthony] Dixon and [RB] Kendall Hunter get the majority of the carries. I want those two guys to be in a position to find out who our second best back was. We found out a lot of things tonight. Some good, there was some good. Found out some things we didn't want to find out, but that's a part of an evaluation process."
(on if QB Colin Kaepernick showed a little youth going against the Texans' starters) "I think if you're just looking to find something positive to say offensively, it's not easy tonight. I'm not going to single anybody out. The players will hear it from us; they don't need to read about it as well."
(on if there is a chance he might be forced to start Kaepernick just for the simple fact that he is more mobile and he can escape out of trouble) "No."
(on if there are some communication problems on the left side of the line between T Joe Staley and G Mike Iupati) "I think we had that the first week. The second week we didn't have any communication issues. I'm not aware of any we were having tonight. It really was not real complicated what they were doing up front, but they were getting us, they were beating us. I'm not aware of any communication issues, to answer your question."
(on some of the good things he saw tonight) "I think there was good play. [LB Ahmad] Brooks' interception, I don't think I've ever been associated with a game where I've seen, on the first play of the game, pick off a screen on an interception and take it in. That was good. I thought [CB] Chris Culliver played some tight coverage, it looked like he was running the routes for a few guys at times and getting his hands on the ball. There were others."
(on if he anticipates playing starters at all in the fourth preseason game) "We'll see."
(on if he would this a step backwards for him) "I'm not going to call it anything other than it was a bitter pill to swallow whenever you lose a football game. The thorough nature of it is something that we're going to have to address and we would have anyway. We're not going to have any loser talk or hang our heads. If you're waiting for that you're not going to get it. We're going to keep our heads up and forge ahead."
(on if he addressed the team before his press conference) "I did address the team."
(on why he was waiting on the media at his press conference) "Because I was told to come to the press conference and nobody had called the media in yet. I don't think there's any big story there. After the game, I address my team and come straight in here to talk to the media."
(on thanks for being so malleable) "No problem."
(on if he was going vanilla on the defensive scheme or was something willing to give up underneath routes to Texans wide receivers) "The ones that hurt us were the swing routes early in the game. I thought we addressed that after the first two drives. They also kept getting us on the 12-yard curl; hit that about three or four times in the ball game. There were some open throwing lanes. But we weren't really getting the pressure on them, certainly as much as we were receiving. We weren't giving like we were receiving."
(on QB Alex Smith being under constant pressure) "It seemed that way and he took a couple of big hits. It seemed like there were a couple in there where he was met at the top of his drop with a defender. That's tough to evaluate."
(on if he was able to get a fair evaluation of reserves playing with the first string against NFL starters) "In some cases we were. It didn't work out exactly as it was planned, and it seldom ever does in a football game. Offensively, the time of possession was really skewed and we didn't have near enough plays in the first half, of our own doing, to really get that executed. Defensively, I thought our young guys really got in there and did a good job. There was good play by [LB] Larry Grant; I was impressed by him. [NT] Ian Williams, [DT Demarcus] Dobbs, those kinds of guys I thought played very well. I thought we got that more on the defensive side of the ball and special teams than we did on the offensive side of the ball."
(on if LB Aldon Smith is ready to be an every down outside linebacker) "I think he's in a process right now."
(on if he played any other quarterbacks than Colin Kaepernick and Alex Smith) "You're correct. Those are the only two quarterbacks that played."
(on if that's because of the struggling) "The final opportunity to get another quarterback in was with eight or nine minutes left in the ball game. We just decided to go with a two-minute drive situation on Colin's last drive just to make sure that he had gotten that situation. I really wanted to get the other two guys in, but there weren't near enough plays to get everybody in tonight. And I would have liked to. All of those guys are working very hard and they deserve to be put in the ball game."
(on how much he would say the fact that the Texans game-planned and they didn't had to do with the result) "There's no excuses. We're game planning, too, so that's not an excuse."
QB Alex Smith
(on if it was tough to get into a rhythm out there today) "Yes, I mean the first couple series, I got one first down and then sputtered. Yes, put ourselves in third downs and then couldn't convert."
(on if he thought they had solved their pass protection issues against the Raiders in the previous game) "You know, yes I had the couple sacks there and then obviously felt the pressure on the pick and felt like getting hit. I have to look at it. It'd be hard for me to say at this point. Who knows what happened. I don't want to rush into conclusions or judgments or anything like that. Obviously there's room for improvement for all of us, so we'll see what the film says. It kind of sucks at this point just after the game, but it's kind of the truth. I'm not playing. It's tough to see what was going on at the front sometimes."
(on showing frustration after getting hit so many times and throwing his second interception) "You know go back out there. Coach Harbaugh told me that potentially if we got into some two-minute situations that I was going to go back in. To go back out there, I wanted to get into a rhythm, and the last thing going out there, and just frustrated. I felt like at that point it was tough getting the ball off. But, that's just what happens in a game. It's an emotional game. You're out there getting hit. A lot of us, we're all playing for our football lives at this point, so you want to go out there and showcase your best ability. So, it's just was frustrating at the moment."
(on if he came out of the game okay physically) "Yes, I'm fine. Absolutely."
(on if he thinks Coach Harbuagh needs to give the starters need more time in the fourth exhibition game) "Yes, obviously a good question for him. Don't know at this point in the preseason. It's the week before the opener, if you risk playing guys and getting guys banged up or anything. That's a good question, I don't know, so I guess we'll wait to see that and find out."
(on how much stock they put into the third game, which is traditionally seen as the most important of the preseason) "Well yes, traditionally it obviously is. I think you saw a different approach. I played the two series and then came out and then went back in for the situational stuff. Coach, I think took a little different approach in the sense that he wanted to let some of the younger guys play and really see what they had against some NFL starters. So it was a little different, a little nontraditional in that sense, but still a lot of room for improvement for all of us."
(on where he would say the offensive line is right now) "It's not something I'm worried about to be totally honest with you. We've got a great group up front. Those guys work as hard as anybody. They're talented. I think tonight—and protection doesn't always just fall on them, it falls on everybody sometimes. We'll look at it and see. I think a couple times, the guys got on edges and it can be tough, so."
(on if the offensive line is a work in progress) "Yes, there are some moving parts there in the game and I think they wanted to get those guys some reps and some film and see how they do in those different spots. No excuse though, but yeah, some of those guys play multiple positions, move them around and see how they do."
(on if he would have liked to have gotten into a rhythm and played the entire first half like every starting quarterback in the NFL) "Under normal circumstances I'd say maybe I want to play a little bit more, but to be honest with you, coaches have done such a great job at practice, we get so many reps in throughout the week. It's the way he wanted to do it, and don't see a problem with it. I've been in years passed where we've put a lot of stock into preseason, and we've put up really good numbers and win a lot of games, and two weeks into the season, no one really cares. So coach took a different approach to it a little bit, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. Obviously we took our lumps tonight. It was a rough one for all of us, and you look at it and get better."
(on how much he takes it on himself when the offense struggles) "Yes, as the guy who touches the ball every single play, you know you're the focal point. So no question as a quarterback, when things are struggling, you feel like what can you do to make some things happen. But at the same time, we all rely on each other and it takes 11 of us, and we've got to find a way to get it going. We've got a find a way within ourselves in that huddle to move the chains and get some rhythm going."
QB Colin Kaepernick
(on if there were a lot of breakdowns on offense) "I think the biggest thing right now is, if you have ten people doing the right thing on one play, and you have one person doing the wrong thing on offense, that turns into a bad play and it turns into a bad play quickly. Right now we're kind of having some of those problems where it might be one thing here, one thing there, and a drive falls apart because of that."
(on what happened on the interception and if he was just trying to get the guy and didn't see the defender cut in front) "No, actually I saw the safety. I thought that [WR] Braylon [Edwards] was going to be able to cross his face before he got there. Just a bad judgment on my part."
(on what [Head Coach Jim] Harbaugh tells him after something like that) "He asked me if I saw the safety, if I saw what was going on. I told him, 'yeah.' He said, 'All right, well we'll just move on from there, we learn from it.' That's one of the good things about the preseason is you can learn from those things and they don't count for anything right now."
(on how hurried he felt given all of the Texans' pressure) "That's something you have to deal with as a quarterback no matter where you are at. Right now we're still trying to pick up on things. We're trying to adjust to different things. So, right now every position is going to have problems from time to time."
(on what he thinks think he didn't adjust to against the Texans) "I think everything we did today was just on ourselves. We had little problems here and there that we just need to correct throughout the next week."
(on what he thinks of his overall performance while playing with some ones against the Texans' ones) "I think we need to get a lot better. I think the scoreboard shows that. We didn't put any points on the board offensively tonight. So, there's a lot of things we need to work on."
(on if he was disappointed and would like to see more points scored offensively) "Yeah, being an offensive player, you always want to put points on the board. You want to put as many up there as you can, but right now there's still a lot of learning we're doing. There's a lot of progressions we're still going through, and really we're trying to get amped up for this season. This is practice for this season to make sure everything is right then."
(on what was different about going against ones and playing with some ones also) "I wouldn't say there were any huge differences. You still have to go out there, you have to play football and go through your reads."
(on if there was anything positive he took from tonight's game) "You can learn a lot from games like this. As much as you hate to have them, sometimes you learn more from losses than wins."
(on what he learned) "You have to get better. You've got to do a lot of things better offensively. I have to be better with my eyes, feet, and some of my reads."
LB Ahmad Brooks
(on what he saw on the first play picking off Texans QB Matt Schaub) "I just really reacted to the play. I got to the play kind of early and I saw that he dropped back kind of far and I recognized that the offensive line, they were starting to go down the field. Recognized that it was a screen and I just saw him throw the ball and I caught it."
(on what some of the unique difficulties are that Texans offense presents for the defense) "I mean they have good receivers, the offensive line is decent. Got a good quarterback. I went to school with Matt Schaub, so I'm very familiar with his game play and they just, I think as a unit, they execute very well, and that's one of their strengths."
(on how he would say the defense has played overall right now) "We got a lot of work to do. We were out there on the field a little too long the first two series. I believe the first series we were out there maybe eight to ten plays, and the second series might be the same. We just want to get off the field as early as possible, not really give up so many third down situations. Just get off the field, three and outs, get off the field."
RB Anthony Dixon
(on how he thinks he did today) "It was okay, definitely got to get better. I'm just going to keep it positive. We've just got to get better."
(on the toughest thing that the Texans threw at them) "It was kind of like, they were doing a whole bunch of spilling the ball inside, kind of trying to trap us, and I don't know. We've just got to get back to the film room, and really figure out what's going on. But there wasn't a whole lot of room to work with."
(on if it's frustrating that the offense didn't put up any points at all) "It's frustrating because we take pride in that. We want to be known as the high-powered offense. I get that feeling from the coaches. I get that feeling from the other players. When we don't perform, it's definitely disappointing. Nobody's going home with a smile tonight, so back to the drawing board. Just got to stay positive."
RB Frank Gore
(on if he is happier not to play and not risk injury at this point) "You can't look at it that way, you know? I'm here to play football and yeah know I said I was going to do that. Coach told me earlier in this week, he told me you know that he wanted me to sit things out, pay attention and try to help the younger guys and that's what I did."
(on what he saw from his vantage point on the sideline going wrong with the offense) "You know, we just couldn't get anything going. I can't really tell yeah. I gotta go you know, watch the film. We just didn't get nothing going."
(on if he will be involved in those talks at all) "Nah I don't want get that. I'm a football player, if I was an agent I would, I'd do it. You know that's my agent's job and hopefully man, hopefully hopefully I hope it get's done and I hope I can get something fair."
(on if his preseason is over) "I got to see what Coach say. It's up to coach Harbaugh whatever he say I'm going to do. I like him a lot and I respect him a lot."
(on if he is ready for the regular season) "I'm ready. I trained my behind this offseason. I practice hard every day, as y'all see. When my number gets called, 21 is going to be ready."
(on if his mind is right) "You know I have my days. But once I touch the field I don't think about it. You know I'll be here for my team, I'll be there for my team and try to get some wins."
(on if he'll request a trade if he doesn't get an extension before the season starts) "It's up to the team. I don't [have anything] to do with a trade. I don't [have anything] to do with my agent and the team. If the team wants to do that, hopefully they don't. I want to be here. I want to be a 49er and I want to be treated right. Like I said, if it get done, it gets done. If not, I'm going to be here for my teammates and my coaching staff and try to make this run."
LB Larry Grant
(on if he can talk about the game and what he and the team can improve on) "I can't really, you got to look at the film first. As a team, we can see that our defensive unit gave up too many points. Thirty eight points in a game, regardless of whether it's a preseason game or not, that's not good at all. It's going to be a rough week for us. We are going to forget about it after a day or two and move on to San Diego."
(on the forced fumble) "All my life, I've been taught to put your eyes on the ball and I saw he was holding the ball a little lose, and I put my eyes on the ball. Fortunately the ball came out."
CB Carlos Rogers
(on what he has seen from DT Demarcus Dobbs in camp) "A lot of progression, just getting better and better every week, every game. Just taking it day-by-day in practice."
(on having a couple of forced fumbles out and if this is the kind of chaos that the defense is going to cause) "It's some, hopefully we will have a lot more than this. It's just a little preview. We've been really kind of mellow on defense, run a kind of base defense so you don't see a lot things practiced. A lot of guys rushing, a lot of picks, a lot of safety picks. So, this was just a little preview and hopefully once the season start, we'll get it."
S Donte Whitner
(on the defensive performance overall) "Overall we got three turnovers in the first half. We had two penalties on third down in the first half that could have ended scoring drives or ended on four-and-one. We had an interception by S Dashon Goldson that was negated by a penalty. So, we're doing a lot of good things out there, we're just killing ourselves with the penalties and the dumb mistakes. It's a game right here, game three, where most teams game plan. We didn't game plan at all. We just came out here, we actually had a light practice yesterday. We just came out here and wanted to use our base things again and see what we could do against them. It's a really good offensive football team, and we feel like we did pretty good early in the first quarter but we have to get better. We have to get on the field, hold teams to a field goal or stop them in the red zone. It's something we have to work on."
(on some of those challenges that the Houston Texans offense posed) "They have a zone running scheme, where their offensive line is really tricky and they know how to cut guys out of gaps and a running back who is patient and will choose a gap. So if all of our defensive linemen get their shoulders turned to the sideline, he'll pick two or three gaps. Then they run the boots off of that and they make it look the same. They're really good at selling what they're doing and then coming out with a boot and then hit you with deep routes off of that also. So that's why they're a really good offense."
S Madieu Williams
(on if he feels like he has been given the chance that he wants) "Well you know what, all I can do is whatever opportunities I have a chance to play, I can't control that. I just have go out there and just play, and that's what I try to do. Just go out there and play."
(on how he feels the defense is coming around) "I think we got off to a great start with [LB] Ahmad [Brooks'] interception. That was a great way to start for a defensive series. But I thought that we were not as sharp as we were the previous week on getting off the field on third down. There were some opportunities to get off the field that we didn't take advantage of."
LB Patrick Willis
(on the defense's performance so far) "We always want to come out and play well. They pretty much drove the ball on us, but with every game there's something to learn from and I think this is a good game. You never want anything bad to happen to us, but I think this game was a good game for us as a first unit. Being out there and just knowing that you still have to work, you still have to prepare every day, and every game you have to come with it. That's what we're going to take from it. No way are we satisfied at all, but there was one good play earlier in the game. We did get a stop on them but at the same time, they scored on us. We're not going to hang our heads over it and have a long face, but we just know we still have work to do."
(on some threats the Texans' offense posed against the defense) "I think the Texans have a good offense, they've got some great skill guys over there, a good quarterback. To me they're one of the better offenses in the NFL, so it was a good test for today going against a fast offense like that."
