Post-Game Quotes From Your Houston Texans After Win Over Titans

As always, you can find the entire transcript here. Here are some selected quotes for your perusal and discussion:

Bob McNair

(on if he’s wrapped his arms around this 4-0 start to the season) “We’ve got 12 more games to play. I’m thinking about that. I’m happy with the 4-0, but we’ve got a game in New York next, a week from Monday. We’ve got to be ready to go up there and play well. Any one of these teams can beat us and we know that. We just have to keep working hard.”

Gary Kubiak

(on if he’s happy the team didn’t let up after starting 3-0) “Like I told you guys, these guys have been all business. We probably had our best practice Friday that we’ve had all year long. We were talking in our meeting last night and that came up. I have players talk all the time in meetings and they said, ‘hey, you know we’re ready to play. Everybody watched practice Friday.’ When they’re talking like that, and they’re focusing like that then it gives you a chance to be successful. We just have to stay on each other and move on to the next month and keep working.”

(on making any adjustments at halftime) “We went to our no huddle offense. First off, the first series of the second half, we were backed up I think on our six or something. But then we went to our no huddle for the next two drives, I think we had a couple scores there so we got our tempo going with our muddle huddle, even though we had a lead I think that helped us. So we were trying to pick up the tempo there. But, we really played great defense, I think, the whole second half, except for those yards at the end when we’re sitting there in a prevent mode. I thought the defensive play in the second was what got us going, the big play.”

(on DE J.J. Watt’s play) “I keep my fingers crossed. This is incredible. What kind of a record? Multiple sacks four games in a row or something? That is hard to do in this league. But when you watch this young man prepare. It was interesting yesterday – we got through with our practice and I was going to stick around and watch Rice and Houston so I had some time on my hands. So I go in the workout room, the weight room, to get me a little exercise in, and he is in there for at least an hour lifting weights. He is special. He works to be special and hopefully we can keep in healthy and keep going.”

(on the focus being about the Texans, and not the opponent) “The good teams I’ve been around, that is the way they focus, because they don’t get concerned about who the play, where they play, they get concerned about how they play. And it’s a hard thing to get to take over on our team, but our guys are really into that right now. They know that if they play good football we’re going to have an excellent chance to win week in and week out and they’re really hard on each other and pushing each other. We’ll see over a period of time but it’s a good start.”

(on CB Kareem Jackson’s play today) “This season, but the last three weeks, he’s been exceptional. VJ (Defensive Backs Coach Vance Joseph) has done a great job with him as a coach. His confidence level is very high. And I think J. Joe’s (CB Jonathan Joseph) presence on our team and the way he goes about this business and what he does has shown K-Jack this is what it’s all about. K-Jack has just really grown up as a player and a person as well.”

(on G Andre Caldwell’s injury) “We don’t know. He got rolled up pretty good is my understanding. Of course I don’t see during the game, but he got rolled up pretty good. He came into the game with a sore ankle, so (C/G) Ben (Jones) played the rest of the way. He’s been battling the nicks actually the last week or so. So we’ll see where we’re at. We’ve got an extra day this week so hopefully we get him back.”

(on the play of C/G Ben Jones) “It’s hard for me to say. I have to go back and look. I can think of a couple things I know he can do better. I remember third-and-four, where he got beat on a play we had. He’s a young player and we just have to keep pushing forward. He’s going to get a ton of play time and how far he comes, and how far (T Derek) Newton comes, all those things are associated with what we’ll be when it’s all said and done.”

(on not being happy with the run game today) “I’m not. We’re bouncing the ball a lot. And I don’t know if we’re bouncing the ball for the right reasons, I have to go back and look at it. Or if we are making the wrong cut. But we have way too many balls going sideways on the field. We need to get the ball downhill. We’ll be hard on ourselves and take a look at that. We stayed pretty committed to it today. I’m sitting here peaking at it (the game stats), we still ran the ball 31 times, but we did not get much out of it, we averaged 3.1 or 2 yards a carry and that’s not good enough for us.”

Wade Phillips

(on if it’s tough to single out a top defensive performer) “Of course, (SS Danieal) Manning’s interception for a touchdown really turned the game, where we were going to win the game for sure. They kept throwing it and so we got another one for a touchdown.”

(on if he’s ever had a player have a start to the season like DE J.J. Watt has in 2012) “I’ve had a lot of really good players. I hate to single him out above all of them because several are in the Hall of Fame. Reggie White was pretty good when he started out. Bruce Smith was pretty good. Elvin Bethea was pretty good. I’ve been around some guys but it’s because of them, it’s what they do. They’re tremendous players and you get them one-on-one with people, they’re going to beat people.

(on if he things SS Danieal Manning and FS Glover Quin are the two best safeties in the league) “They’re awfully good. I don’t see anybody playing better pass defense than what we’re playing. It takes all four or five of them (defensive backs).”

James Casey

(on his role as a receiving fullback) “I like to think so. It makes us very versatile and flexible offensively. We can line up in different formations and we can do those types of routes out of the backfield, which a traditional fullback can’t do. It’s just more things a defense has to worry about. You never know how things are going to go. We have different game plans every week. With every team we are playing, you never know what they are going to give you. They can’t take away everything and we have a quarterback that can get you the ball.”

Brian Cushing

(on seeing CB Kareem Jackson having a big day) “I think Kareem has is progressively getting better and better and having bigger games. Towards the end of last year, and he’s played real solid this year. Today was probably one of the better, if not best games of his career. The kid’s got it. He’s a fighter. He’s a tough kid who’s never complained. He’s been through hell. Literally, he’s been through hell with all the stuff he has heard over the last few years. And just the way he’s responded, I think it’s huge. It just proves what kind of kid he is.”

Owen Daniels

(on how different it is around the locker room than previous years) “I think it’s night and day. Everything we’ve been through the previous six years has kind of I think put us in the position we’re in now. We’ve been humbled a lot. We don’t take anything for granted. We’re working every day. Coach (Gary) Kubiak is keeping us focused on doing that. It’s a lot different now, but it’s the way we want it to be right now.”

(on his touchdown reception) “I think everyone tried to tackle me twice. I got through all of them. (QB Matt Schaub) did a great job of obviously reading the defense and getting the ball to me. I made the catch. I was able to shed the defender and find my way in the end zone. I was determined to get in there. It was nice to get those opportunities to catch and run and see what you can do with it.”

Arian Foster

(on the 4-0 start to the season) “It doesn’t mean anything because it could all go downhill really fast. It doesn’t matter. It helps, but it doesn’t matter. We are all happy, but we need to keep pushing as a team. It’s nice, but what matters are the wins. We have those and we need to keep on pushing.”

Kareem Jackson

(on what his teammates said to him after the game) “From year one to now, it’s been a progression. My thing is just get better every season. I just wanted to come out and prove my ability to the guys in this locker room.”

(on if he feels he is getting more confident on the field) “Definitely, from year one to now it’s all about progression as a player. When you have seen different things for so long, you start to get accustomed. We talk a lot about things that we are going to see in the game. I think it’s just being accustomed and comfortable.”

Andre Johnson

(on if he’s wrapped his arms around the team’s success this season) “I knew before camp started that we had a good football team. It was just up to us to put it all together. So far, we’ve been doing that. It’s not just one guy going out and doing something. It’s a team effort. Our defense went out and scored 14 points today. We can score in every phase of the game, offense, defense, special teams. It’s a collective effort. It could be me one week, Owen (Daniels) another week, Kevin (Walter) one week, Arian (Foster) and Ben (Tate) another week so we have a lot of weapons and we make great use of them.”

(on the defensive backs returning interceptions for touchdowns) “It’s fun to see, especially for a guy like Kareem (Jackson). He took a lot of criticism and stuff when he first got here. To see him do that and see how much he’s grown as a player, I was very excited to see him do that.”

(on if he’s seen a better defensive player than DE J.J. Watt this season) “Right now what he’s doing, no. He’s on the course to do some real damage. He’s been doing a lot of damage over these past four games. It just shows the work he puts in. When he got injured, I went up to him and I’m like ‘How you feeling?’ He’s like ‘I’ll be ready week one’. He was ready to go. It’s been showing. He’s playing his butt off. He’s a beast out there. We expect to hear his name called at least four or five times a game or out there tipping balls or doing something crazy. It doesn’t surprise me what he’s doing.”

(on if he’s surprised by the team’s success so far this season) “We just don’t talk about it. Like I said, I think last year was a big learning lesson, big stepping stone for this organization. After everything we have been through, all the injuries we suffered, I think it was just like ‘hey man we can get this done if we’re all dedicated to what we need to be dedicated to.’ When we came back in guys had a new attitude. Guys were just ready to go, and like I said, we’re all on the same page and just taking it one week at a time.”

Johnathan Joseph

(on CB Kareem Jackson’s play) “Absolutely, first the criticism is undeserved. He’s been playing a year and a half on the league’s number one defense. He’s made tremendous strides this year, and like I said, the next step for him was getting his hands to the football and making plays. Today was a prime example. The first three games he got his hands on some balls as well.”

Danieal Manning

(on the block from CB Johnathan Joseph) “I didn’t see him until the last minute. I tried to switch hands and stiff arm him, but (CB) Johnathan (Joseph) laid him out.”

(on how happy he is for CB Kareem Jackson) “He’s been through a lot, but the guy is resilient and bounced back. His rookie year, coming in changing the whole defense, he did well and now he’s showing that he can definitely be one of the top corners in this league, and rightfully so. I hate to say long overdue, that won’t do him any justice. I feel like it was just the time he peaked.”

Glover Quin

(on how much his sack set the tone) “It definitely set the tone. It’s a big play for us. They’re backed up and it’s third down, so now they got the punter in the end zone, our offense gets good field position. Definitely spring boarded us a little bit to keep it up the rest of the game.”

Matt Schaub

(on going to the no-huddle and if it helped in the 2nd half) “I think it did, it just helps our tempo. It helps us stay locked in on what we’re doing and not start moving too slow and getting in and out of the huddle. The huddle gets us going and gets the tempo going and gets the receivers in the game and it also wears down the defense.”

(on being able to pass to 7 or 8 different receivers, and having many weapons) “We’ve got a ton of weapons, and you can see that. Whether it’s our wide outs or tight ends. (FB) James (Casey) at fullback and our halfbacks make plays as well for us. It really is pick your poison as a defense, who do you want to lock-in to try and take away? Well we’ve got some other guys that can make some plays.”

Antonio Smith

(on the success of the defense) “It was beautiful man. We came out hot and excited. Everybody was excited. For a little bit there we kind of got complacent, but we got reignited. Once we got reignited everybody started making plays. That’s the most beautiful way to play football. To have everybody on the highlight film, that is when you know you have a great defense. (SS Danieal) Manning and (CB Kareem) Jackson getting interceptions, I think that everybody forgot that Manning is a returner. There was no way he was running out of bounds. At first I was like get down, but he went for the touchdown. Even at the end of the game when you know you are up, to have that much focus to intercept the ball and take it to the house, it just shows how hungry this defense is.”

(on his sack) “It was about time. Everybody was eating today, and (DE) J.J. Watt was phenomenal. Everybody getting on the highlight film just makes me happy.”

(on DE J.J. Watt’s performance this season) “I’ve seen guys dominating in my years. I was around back in the day when (Warren) Sapp was dominating, but for me to have him on my team, no I have never up close and personal have seen the type and start of a year that J.J. is having. We all feed off of him. It becomes a friendly competition where everybody this week was getting on the highlight film. Everybody was like we are all going to get on the highlight tape. J.J. is not going to take over the highlight tape this week. But, he did it again.”

J.J. Watt

(on if he has ever had a stretch like the one he is having now where he is making an impact in every game) “I would say no. I’m just having fun.”

(on how often he is double teamed and how often he is helped) “I don’t know, but I would say about the same amount as everybody else in the league. I don’t think I’m getting special attention and I don’t think that they can give me special attention because of all the other players we have on our team. If you want to double team me, then you got (OLB) Connor Barwin, (OLB) Brooks Reed and (DE) Antonio Smith to deal with so it creates a lot of trouble and I think I need to give a lot of credit to those guys because they keep blockers off of me.”

(on how much fun it is to be in a game where the defense scored 14 points and are all over the place) “I said it earlier but it feels like we’re little kids in the backyard. We’re just having fun. We got DBs (defensive backs) taking them to the house and (DE) Antonio Smith getting a sack and forcing a fumble. It’s just so much fun to go out and play with these guys because we literally don’t care who gets the credit. We just want to make plays and have fun and I think that’s why we’re so successful.”

(on if he is getting uncomfortable with all of the publicity he’s been getting) “No, it means I’m playing good. If they don’t want to talk to me, that means I’m stinking it up so I don’t want that. I hope it continues.”

(on if he feels he could possibly play any better than he has in these first four games) “Yeah, a lot better. When I watch the film, there are a lot of things I can correct and a lot of things that I watch and want to improve on every single game. I’m just working on improving little things every week so hopefully by the end of the year I’m playing my best football yet. But I’m not playing my best football yet. I’m obviously not going to sit here and tell you that I’m not having fun and playing good ball because I know that but I’d be lying if I said I was playing my best ball.”