The Texans fell to the Ravens in Baltimore in Week 3, 30-9. After the loss, head coach Gary Kubiak and several players met with the media. The following is a transcript of their respective interviews.
Head Coach Gary KubiakLB Brian CushingRB Arian FosterWR DeAndre HopkinsWR Andre JohnsonCB Johnathan JosephFS Ed ReedQB Matt SchaubDE J.J. Watt
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on today's performance) "Not very good, congratulations to Baltimore, they did a good job. We were in the type of game that I thought we would be in. It was a 6-3 game, with five or six minutes left in the first half, and in a four play sequence we give up 14 points. That's where the game turned. And then you're playing catch up all day long. I'm very disappointed; the biggest disappointment is in discipline. That's my responsibility; we had 14 or 15 penalties."
(on explaining how you have more penalties today than in the first two games) "First off, that comes from going on the road and playing a great team. Concentration wise, you have to be able to handle those things, and keep our hands in offensively. Defensively, in the second half we must have jumped off sides four or five times. Regardless to whom it was, it's a team thing, and there's no way you're going to win on the road with 14 or 15 penalties."
(on update on WR Andre Johnson) "He has a bad shin bruise; the X-ray they took at halftime was ok. I watched him the first play, we threw the ball the first play and I wanted to see him run. I did not think he could run the way he needs to, to play so we took him out."
(on the interception QB Matt Schaub threw) "It's a route we run all the time, and he just misread the play. Our game plan offensively was to protect the ball, and to make a bunch of third-and-threes and third-and-fours, and not have any third-and-longs. After the first drive, I think we had five or six third-and-10 plusses [downs], and we turned the ball over. We did not execute our plan."
(on how the team responded in the second half) "Not good, they went right down and scored. They started the second half and got right down and scored. I think we started moving the ball and then got it into another third-and-forever. We dropped the ball when we tried to execute to Keshawn [Martin] on a big third-and-long. From there, we were down 16. If you're in a throwing mode, in this environment and against this defensive front, you're going to have a hard time."
(on scoring possibilities on the first possession of the game and the first half) "On the first possession, we missed a play down there to Andre [Johnson] underneath on second down. Then we had third-and-goal from the eight, and we don't make a play right there. Going down the other end I can't exactly remember the third-down play that we missed. Oh, I know which one it is, it was a flat route to Andre [Johnson], we threw the ball behind him. If we throw him the ball better, we should convert. 0-for-2 down there in a game like this, where points are premium, that's a concern. But we knew we would be in that type of game. The biggest concern is giving them points, giving somebody 14 points."
(on what he saw of Ed Reed in his debut) "I'll have to go back and watch the film; obviously it looked like he moved ok. I know there was a point when we said that's enough, so we'll go back and look at it and hopefully he came out clean. If he's not too sore tomorrow, we'll move on to next week. "
(on the punt return for the touchdown) "Like I said it's a 14-point swing. I think we throw the interception for a touchdown, then we go three-and-out, and then they return the punt for the touchdown. So that's the big momentum swing in the game. We do battle back and get a field goal before the end of the half, which I thought was huge in the game. But in the second half they out played us. They went right down the field and we did not play well defensively. And obviously, offensively we didn't do anything."
(on the play of the offensive line) "I think we struggled. I knew we were playing a very good group, and in a throw mode that they knew about, it was going to be a tough day. That's totally what ended up happening.* *Third-and-10 plus that many times is going to be hard on your tackles. We put ourselves in that situation and you're not going to win many battles against this group."
(on not playing a clean game) "It's very disconcerting, that's my responsibility. We didn't get done what we had to get done to come in here and get a win. We were doing it for a period of time and then when something bad happened we never regained any type of control of the game. You're not going to win anywhere on the road playing like we did today."
(on the passing game) "We couldn't hold the ball, to get anybody down the field long. We had a hard time protecting, so we had some guys open but our quarterback was under duress. But we knew that was coming if we couldn't control and run the football. If you look at the first drive, we converted third-and-three and third-and-four, and then all of a sudden all of that went away. So that was the hard part."
(on the mentality at halftime after coming from behind the previous two weeks) "We talked at half time, obviously we played poorly. We had given them 14 points, our defense had played tremendous, and I think they held them to 60 yards in the first half. You have to feel fortunate to be in the game we were at half time it's a one score game. But they come out and go right down the field and made some big plays on us and took control of the game."
LB Brian Cushing
(on the defense) "It was good, but not good enough. I think we did a good job on the total yards, but we didn't have any take-aways, and not enough big plays. We have to make bigger defensive plays in the game."
(on QB Joe Flacco's cadence) "He knows we're a very aggressive football team. He knows we like to bring the blitz, and he made an adjustment, and got us a couple times."
(on Ed Reed) "He brings a lot in leadership to our team. Obviously, it wasn't our best game. Ed [Reed] brings another dimension to our football team, a lot of leadership and intimidation."
RB Arian Foster
(on the offense) "We did not play well. We did not play well at all. I felt like we ran the ball OK, but we didn't put ourselves in situations where we could run it."
(on the first drive) "We always want to put points on the board. You always try to get seven over three, but I felt good after that drive. I felt like we were in control of the line of scrimmage and in control of the game, and things happen. I felt like we didn't execute like we can. Anytime you leave points out on the field against a team like that, they're going to take advantage of it. And that's what they did. We kept them in the game."
WR DeAndre Hopkins
(on the offense's play) "We didn't execute the way we wanted to. The results weren't good. We came out really good. We were clicking on all cylinders, and I'm not really sure what happened later. We just weren't clicking as an offense. That's the way the NFL is – sometimes things go your way and sometimes things don't. Today, things just didn't go our way."
(on their next two games against Seattle and San Francisco) "I haven't really looked forward to that. I was focused on the Ravens today. We've got Monday to go in and study the film, and hopefully we'll have a good game plan against those guys."
(on the Ravens' defense in the second half and whether they changed their scheme) "I'm not sure what they did but I felt like we hurt ourselves. We gave them 14 points when our defense wasn't even on the field. I wouldn't say they shut us down – I would say we hurt ourselves."
WR Andre Johnson
(on the Texans' offensive struggles) "The biggest thing is that everybody is not going to be perfect all the time, but we need to find a way to win. We did that these last two weeks, but mistakes caught up with us today. But we will get it fixed and be better."
(on the loss to the Ravens) "Anybody can be beaten any day. We just try to learn from it and move on. You can't go crazy about it, but the good thing is we get a chance to respond next week."
(on settling for field goals) "Our defense gave us great position early in the game. We should have gotten seven points twice. When we didn't, it came back to hurt us. Things went bad very quickly. They had an interception and a return kick, and we lost the game. We'll come back and be better."
CB Johnathan Joseph
(on Ed Reed's first game) "It was good for a lot of the guys on the team, to have a guy like that come and play. For me, I'm an older guy, and I'm really familiar with Ed Reed. But as a secondary, it's good to have everyone healthy."
(on the second half) "Penalties. Some warranted, some unwarranted. We can't let the small things take away from what we're trying to accomplish – getting off the field on third downs, not communicating, having a mishap in coverage – basically they're just small things. For the most part, we played a great game defensively, but there were a few plays in there that we'd like to have back as a defense."
(on playing Seattle next week) "We haven't watched them on film. We know they have a good team, but we have to go back and look at what type of problem they present from an offensive standpoint for us defensively. We'll have our hands full as well next week."
(on the preparation of Ravens RB Ray Rice not playing) "We prepared no differently. It's all about what we do defensively. The offense can do what they do, but if we call the right defense, every defense works for every play – it just has to be run correctly."
S Ed Reed
(on the game) "Nobody wants to lose. But we played against a great team today. We knew who we were facing. We knew what we were walking into. You can't make the mistakes that we made. You've got to be a disciplined and smart football team. You can't jump off-sides. You can't turn the ball over, especially on the road. But it's something we can grow from. We need to grow from it, make the corrections and move forward."
(on the Ravens' defense) "Baltimore has a great defense. The defense has always been great around here for a long time. Like I told the guys coming into this game, defensively, they're going to know every move that you're making. It's just about execution as players. We have to go out there and execute the game plan that we put together. We have to be disciplined about it, we have to be smart about it and make the plays when they come to you."
(on the off sides penalties and whether QB Joe Flacco changed his cadence) "That's part of it. There's got to be a discipline. It's got to be an individual being smart and disciplined. Whether it's d-line, linebackers, safeties, secondary guys blitzing, you've got to know the flow of the game and get a bead on the play clock and his cadence. But at the end of the day, you watch that ball snap. You can't move until that ball is snapped. So it's about being disciplined, and we've got to make some corrections, but we'll grow from this."
(on how he physically feels) "I felt good. Like Coach said, I wanted to play last week, because I didn't want this to be my first game. [Ravens' OLB] Terrell Suggs made a comment about me coming back, trying to play this game and make interceptions and try to rain on the parade of Ray [Lewis]'s parade—that wasn't the case, that's never the case. I came here [Houston] to give my heart to this organization, to this city, and I will do that, and I will get interceptions. But the ball really didn't come my way today. But at the end of the day, I felt good."
(on the Ravens' fans' reception) "It was awesome. When I first ran out, the whole stadium yelled my name. There's so much love and memories that I have here in this city—it's like family. It's something you cherish as a player. Not everybody gets that welcome."
QB Matt Schaub
(on the interception for a TD) "It was a poor read on my part. I made a bad decision, and the guy made a good play. I should have just checked down and thrown to one of my backs. It was a huge turnaround coming right before halftime. We were in a tough, hard-nosed game versus a good opponent, and we can't make mistakes like that."
(on where the Texans go from here) "We need to take a hard look at what we're doing as a team and individuals. It was tough losing Andre [Johnson] late in the game, and it was a tall task for our younger players to step up."
(on settling for field goals) "You just hate to have that happen. Our defense was playing very well, and they gave us very good field position. We need to get six points in those situations. The game just turned in two plays – the interception and the punt return – and it just snowballed from there."
(on facing the Ravens defense) "Coming in here, we knew the Ravens were very good up front. They attack and create a lot of push. Our offensive line really battled and did a good job. There were plays to be made, but I have to play better."
DE J.J. Watt
(on the Texans' defensive performance) "We need to start taking the ball away. We have to force turnovers and create take-aways. I thought we played pretty well in the first half, but once we got behind, we needed to create turnovers."
(on the Raven's 14-point turnaround) "It was a shock, but something like that is going to hurt you. It was a huge 14-point swing, but one thing I've learned is that anything can happen in this league."
(on any surprises the Ravens had) "No, they didn't do anything differently. We weren't fooled by Joe Flacco's cadence. Guys were just trying to make plays, but we cannot have that many penalties."
(on his feelings after the game) "I feel very frustrated. We came here on the road to play a good team in a tough place, and we didn't play well. I know we will refocus and get better."
