Gary Kubiak's Monday Afternoon Press Conference: Talking Bengals, Patriots, And Philosophy (Seriously)

Is Gary Kubiak taking a page from the Bill Belichick Handbook of Subterfuge? Kubes sang a somewhat different tune yesterday when he held his weekly presser, at least in terms of disclosing injuries. Here's a link to the complete transcript, and I've highlighted a few snippets for your immediate review below.

(on if Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison is ready to be a head coach) "I think he’s been ready for awhile. I think (Offensive Coordinator) Rick (Dennison) is a very smart guy. He’s selective. I’ve been called on him for about three years in a row now, but I think Rick knows what he wants to do with his life and if he’s going to take an opportunity to be a head coach, he’s going to be selective in what he does. He’s got a great background in the National Football League. He’s a 10-year defensive player in the National Football League. He’s been a special teams coach in the National Football League. He’s been an offensive line coach. He’s been an offensive coordinator. There’s nothing this guy hasn’t done. He would do an excellent job if he gets the opportunity."

(on what Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison does to help him most) "He’s my teacher. He’s a guy that comes down here every day and puts it together with the players, teaches the plan, teaches his scheme, teaches what we do and coordinates everything with the offensive coaches and how we go about our business getting ready to play every week and then right there with me on game day calling plays and helping me out. He’s the leader of what we do offensively."

(on capitalizing on the possibilities of getting big offensive plays against the Patriots) "The word ‘finish,’ which I just used. You go back to our first game, we had a couple opportunities early in the game. They were excellent offensively to start the game. They were three for three. I think we penetrated the 30-yard twice on the first two drives and we have nothing to show for it, turn the ball over. When you’re playing them, missed opportunities they hurt all the time, but against these guys they’re a lot worse because of what they do offensively and how good they are. When you get opportunities to go down there and score some points, you better. You better not hurt yourself. We’ve got to find ways to do that. They’re going to make plays and we understand that, but we got to find a way to make quite a few ourselves."

(on TE Garrett Graham’s status) "We’re going to talk about injuries on Wednesday. So we’ll update you guys. That’ll be the first time we’ll talk about that."

(on why he now talks about injuries on Wednesday) "I’ve got a new philosophy, that’s what I was told. That was my philosophy, starting today so that’s my philosophy. We’ll talk about it on Wednesday."

(on if he has anymore new philosophies) "I don’t know, ask me some more questions. I might find one."

(on SS Daniel Manning’s performance returning kickoffs on Saturday) "He showed a little rust from not doing it, but he gives us a chance to make a really big play. He’ll come back this week and I think he’ll be better just after getting back there and doing it again. He gives us an opportunity, and not that (KR) Keshawn (Martin) doesn’t. I think Keshawn’s done a good job. (SS) Danieal’s (Manning) made some really big plays, made one for us in the playoffs last year at Baltimore. We’ll go back and give him a chance to do it this week. But we’re excited about his opportunity to do that."

(on the pace of the Patriots’ offense and the Texans’ style of play) "Well first off, we are built a little bit different. We’re built around a runner, that we’re going to get his touches, those type of things. We’re built to hang onto the football, control the football game. That’s something that we’ve done really good this year – time of possession, those type of things. Hopefully that answers that part of the question. The other part, you’re right. They do a lot of hurry-up and it even gets faster at their place. As a coach, if you break them down of how they’re doping this on the road as compared to what’s going on at home, when they’re at home, everything gets quicker. Obviously the advantage of being at home as far as the noise standpoint. So it makes things even tougher going there."

(on what teams do to keep the Texans from throwing fade routes to WR Andre Johnson in the end zone) "They put a lot of guys on him sometimes. There’s just certain coverages and certain things people do where they’re not going to let you do that. So when that happens, somebody else has got to make a play. I don’t know what else to tell you. You can’t throw it up against every coverage. It wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do in some of the coverages we see."

(on the play of the offensive linemen and the rotation at right guard an right tackle against Cincinnati) "I thought they played really good. (G) Ben (Jones) and (G Brandon) Brooks continued to split some time. Ben probably played a little bit more then Brandon. But I think they’ve both gotten better throughout the course of the season. What’s going to really help them is next year coming back. They won’t be second-year players. They’ll be third-year guys with all the football they’ve played. I think (RT Derek) Newton is getting healthier. He went through a period of time where he was nicked and struggling a little bit. But he has battled back, and I really liked the way he competed this past weekend. And it’s a big stage for him. He wasn’t part of our last trip down there. So it’s obviously a big, big stage for him. He’s played against some good players the last couple of weeks. He caught (Indianapolis Colts OLB Dwight) Freeney and (Indianapolis Colts OLB Robert) Mathis the week before. He’s trial-by-fire growing up and I like his progress."