Gary Kubiak's Monday Press Conference: Post-Bears Victory Edition

Gary Kubiak had his weekly presser yesterday afternoon. Here's a link to the complete transcript; below are a few choice nuggets pulled for your perusal.

(on Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Bill Kollar’s health) “He’s doing good. I talked to him at length this morning. I talked to his wife a long time. Everything is under control. They just did not want him flying home with the team last night. He took a series of tests today, which all came out good and the plan is for him to be on a plane tomorrow morning to be back here sometime Wednesday afternoon. Everything is going good. I just feel very fortunate and the doctors did a great job. (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line) Bill’s (Kollar) feeling fine today.”

(on the health of RB Ben Tate and TE Owen Daniels) “Let’s talk with (RB Ben) Tate and (TE) Owen (Daniels), I guess put them in the same category. I would think Owen is probably a little bit further along. I think they both have a chance of playing in this game. We’ll know more as we get to Wednesday and Thursday. But remember, Tate has been running with the trainers so that’s a move in the right direction. He’s very close. Owen did work out before the game on Sunday. We made the decision to hold him. But the fact that he worked up to that point trying to play tells you how close he is. We get him back rested here and get some treatment, see where we’re at later on in the week.”

(on NT Shaun Cody’s health status) “He’s got an excellent chance of playing this week. We’re going to do kind of a trial run on Wednesday with him with the trainers, how we would approach the game with him. If he’s able to work through that situation I think you could see him on the field probably Thursday or Friday. We’re heading toward him being back active and being a part of it.”

(on NT Earl Mitchell’s play) “(NT) Earl (Mitchell) has played well, between he and (NT) Shaun (Cody), they split time. Depending on how much base we’re playing compared to nickel and those types of things, there could be a lot of reps in a game, not many. Earl is an ascending player. He’s been getting better. He and (TE) Garrett (Graham), if I picked two guys that have really improved a great deal as young players, Earl is in there. We called on him to pick it up last night. We played four d-linemen. (NT Terrell) McClain did not play and got great production out of all of them, but Earl has been doing that so it didn’t surprise us.”

(on if CB Kareem Jackson is a most improved player this season) “No doubt. He’s come so far. I don’t put him in that category anymore. I think he’s been playing at an extremely high level. We all know what (CB) Kareem’s (Jackson) been through. Good pros, they go through tough times early in their career, but then when they come out of it, they’re consistent and good for a long, long time. I think that’s what you’re seeing from Kareem. He has a ton of confidence in (Defensive Coordinator) Wade’s (Phillips) scheme. Kareem is a smart player and I think (Defensive Backs Coach Vance Joseph) VJ has just done a wonderful job with him, not only as a player, but as a person. So real proud of how far he’s come.”

(on the health of ILB Tim Dobbins and ILB Bradie James) “(ILB Tim) Dobbins is actually doing pretty good today. I think we’re going to be touch-and-go throughout the course of the week. He’s got a pretty good shoulder that we worked through. Boy, did he play well in the game and has played well for us since (ILB Brian Cushing) Cush went down. I think he could be midweek, late week before you see him on the field, but knowing Dobbins, I expect him to be there. The other one was (ILB) Bradie (James). Bradie just has a thumb issue that really he’s dealt with throughout the course of his career. He has a thumb that will pop in and out at times. He finds a way to work through it so I don’t expect that to be any different.”

(on having confidence in the defense to protect late leads) “That’s a tremendous luxury when you’re sitting there with four minutes left in the game and feel like I don’t have to try to do something that could hurt our team here. Third and 13, we ran the ball. We’re going to give it back to you. We’re going to make you beat us because we’re playing good defense, obviously the weather and those things that add into it. It not only gives me a lot of confidence as the coach, but it gives our team a lot of confidence. Guys are sitting on the sidelines saying ‘Hey, let’s punt it to them. We’ll get it done.’ That’s something that filters throughout everybody.”

(on the challenge for the coaching staff in having three games in 11 days) “I think the challenge this week is no different as far as what we’ve got to do. The big challenge comes when you walk off the field Sunday, so that’s different. Our routine this week doesn’t change a bit. We focus. We do what we normally do. Then those things get crowded under a short period there, but because of some of the things we’ve had to do, Monday night New York, Sunday night Chicago, we’ve had some tough trips, some tough turnarounds. I think we’re a little bit more prepared for that and a little bit better handling that right now. We’ll find out. It’s going to happen here.”

(on what the Texans showed the country last night) “I don’t know what we showed people. I know what we’re proving to ourselves. That’s the most important thing is what are these guys feeling in the locker room. We faced circumstances that we needed to rise up to last night. It was obvious from the minute that you showed up to the stadium what type of football game you’re going to have to play and how you were going to have to play to win. If anything, we proved our self, we can go do that. I don’t think we’ve been in one like that in a while. We’ve been in a high-scoring game on the road early in the season and then we go get in a game like yesterday’s so if anything we proved to ourselves that we can, regardless of what it takes, we can win those types of games.”