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Gary Kubiak gave his usual Monday afternoon press conference earlier today. With the season officially ending at the hands of the New England Patriots, here's a full transcript of what Kubes had to say. I've pulled out a few choice quotes for your immediate review and reaction below.
(on how much of a blow WR DeVier Posey’s injury is) "It’s a big blow. You just feel bad for the kid because I think he had put himself in a position to come back here next year and push for a starting spot on this football team with his play over the course of the last five or six weeks. I just feel really bad for him. We’re still in an evaluation process here. We know he has an Achilles that has to be repaired. Now there are different levels of how they’re repaired and whether we’re talking about six months or eight months. So we’re going to sit here and hope for the best right now, but obviously it’s a big blow to a young player who has a bright future."
(on if he would draft a quarterback in the second or third round of the draft if he liked a certain player) "Well we always look at everything. We get ready for the draft and those types of things. If you’re asking me that question from the standpoint of what I think of (QB) Matt (Schaub). I believe in Matt. He’s the quarterback of our football team, I’ve got no doubt about him. I think over the course of the last two years, he’s won 70-plus percent of his starts. That’s hard to do in this league. I feel very good about our quarterback. Our whole team has got to get better, that includes coaching and playing, for us to take the next step. And Matt is part of the team, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in him."
(on why the team never went in any four wide receiver sets) "Well we did do a lot of three wides in the game. We had four wides in the game plan, that’s not been us. We’re more of a two tight end, sometimes three wides. But we were very aggressive in the football game and what we were trying to do. They gave us a chance to make some big plays. We made some of them, but we didn’t make enough."
(on if he feels like the team took a step forward even when the team lost in the same round of the playoffs) "Oh no doubt. No doubt in my mind. We’re very disappointed. We didn’t win a championship, that’s the big disappointment. But our franchise won 13 football games and there’s a lot to be said for that, even though as tough as it is to swallow right now, I think this organization continues to move forward. And no doubt in my mind it’s got a chance to win a championship. For us to be sitting here last year, we’re excited to be in the playoffs and all those type of things and now we’re really, really disappointed because we’re not in a Super Bowl. We’re not playing this week to get in a Super Bowl. That’s a big compliment to everybody in this building and how hard they work and the coaches and the players and that’s the expectations of this franchise now. That’s a huge compliment. And I expect it the same way. And we will always be that way now, and I expect to be that way for a long time."
(on the one thing he wished the team could have done better during the season) "Well I just didn’t like our consistency down the stretch. I could say that’s as a team. But offensively, this year we scored more points than we’ve ever scored in the history of this organization. We had the number two receiver in football. We had the number three or four rusher in football. We had a 4,000-yard thrower. We want to be the best. There’s a lot of good things going on right there, but we want to be the best. And being the best meant that we could have been more consistent in the last month of the season that could have been a difference for our team. That’s the biggest thing right now for me is why weren’t we more consistent in third down playing and those type of things late in the season like we were in the first three quarters of the season."
(on if he’ll try to incorporate some youthful mobility into QB Matt Schaub’s game) "I think you build your team a certain way and I feel really good about our football team. You’ve got two guys lining up in the AFC Championship this week that don’t run around for 100 yards a game that are pretty darn good in (Tom) Brady and (Joe) Flacco. I think there is all kind of ways to win and be successful in this league and I think our guy has done that. I’m committed to getting this team better to where we can continue to help him do that and continue to win at a good clip. You build your team a certain way. You go play and try to be as good as you can be."
(on the Patriots giving the Texans problems when they played fast) "They’ll catch you. They don’t change personnel. They do a lot of speed formations and those types of things, things that we worked on throughout the course of the week. We did not handle them as well as we practiced them. That was a big disappointment on the defensive side when you go back and look at the film. They did catch us from some assignment standpoints and those types of things. Other than telling you it was a disappointment the way we handled some of them, that’s all I’ve got."