Wade Phillips Press Conference: On Head Coaching Aspirations, Case Keenum, And More

With Gary Kubiak gone, Wade Phillips gets to be the guy who talks with the media every Monday afternoon. I'm sure he's thrilled. Yesterday, Wade talked about Kubiak, his desire to be a head coach again, who'll be playing QB for the Texans, and more. Here's a link to the full transcript; I recommend checking it out, as it also has some thoughts from Duane Brown, Antonio Smith, and J.J. Watt. I've left a few of Wade's more intriguing answers below for your immediate perusal.

(on how surprised he was by Gary Kubiak’s firing and how it affected him) "You know, well, it affects you personally certainly because we’ve been great friends. I appreciate him certainly hiring me here. A lot of closeness with our family’s and so forth. It affects you obviously, but I’ve been a coach for a long time. I was with the Oilers here, I believe we had the most wins in football the three previous years and we got fired. I know this: they’ve fired good coaches, too. Gary or whoever the good coaches are, they get fired sometimes (and) they go on and do well."

(on what happened with special teams coordinator Joe Marciano’s firing) "Yeah, that was a team decision. Coach (Bob) Ligashesky was here and we feel like he can do the job for us. So we’re going to give him that opportunity."

(on if there will be any changes on special teams) "We started that today as a matter of fact. He’s (Bob Ligashesky) got some different ideas. When you get new coaches in, you’re going to get different ideas. We’ve got some different ways of doing things, different ideas. Not to take away from what Joe (Marciano) did, what a great career here."

(on what it means to him that owner Bob McNair said he’s a candidate for the job) "Again, like I said, I’m not really into that. Obviously, I’m going to try to get this team back on the right track and we’ll go from there."

(on if he’ll have more influence on the offensive side of the ball now) "Yeah, sure. Yeah, I’m going to try to influence some things offensively that I feel can help us. I’m not going to take over the offense. I’ll probably delegate more duties defensively. Also, I have to help with special teams. I’m going to try to be a well-rounded head coach. I think that’s what the head coach does is try to be involved in all aspects of the game. And I’ve done that."

(on who he would delegate responsibilities to on defense) "I don’t want to go into it right now, but I’ve talked to the coaches about what specifics I would like them to do offensively and defensively and special teams wise."

(on if he was involved in QB Case Keenum being named the starter for the rest of the season) "Well, again, that’s a team decision. I think Case needs to go through some of the rough times to get stronger in some areas. Sometimes, he’s got to be able to bring them back during a game. That’s what you want to see out of a young quarterback and see if he can do those things. It’s not a trial basis. It’s just an evaluation basis."

(on his message to S D.J. Swearinger given the penalties last game) "He’s already been given that message. He knows that message. If you get aggressive penalties, that’s one thing. But after the play, that’s hurting your team and you’re teammates, and players have to know that. I think the guy that can tell him the most is Antonio (Smith), hurt his pocketbook too. You finally learn after some point that you’re hurting the team and not just getting back at somebody else. In his case, he was just saying, ‘Get back on the bench. Get back on the bench.’ They threw the flag on him."

(on if offensive coordinator Rick Dennison will call the plays) "I’m going to meet him today and we’ll discuss all of that."

(on if he has a desire to be a head coach) "I think I have something to give. I can go into all of the stats and all of that stuff. Nobody wants to hear those. But if you look at the record, I think I have a lot to offer as a head coach, but that’s somebody else to decide."

(on if he’d be interested in coming back as the defensive coordinator next year if he isn’t hired as the head coach) "I would never say that because then they wouldn’t hire you as the head coach. I’m not going to fall for that one."

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