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Once again, our friends at the team's official site have a fine summary of all kinds of quotes from the third day of Organized Team Activities. This edition even has some words from the man who made Houston Texans football and Super Bowls at Reliant Stadium possible, one Bob McNair. Here's a link to the full story; I'll hit on a few of the more noteworthy snippets below.
Bob McNair:
(on donating $100,000 through the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma Disaster Relief fund in Oklahoma City) “Well, it’s just a tragic event. We were watching it on television, and actually, an acquaintance of ours, their family lives there. Fortunately, they weren’t hurt, but their home was pretty much destroyed. It’s just an unbelievable situation and we just wanted to say that we’re sorry that you have had this disaster, and hopefully this will help a little bit.”
(on whether an 18-game regular-season schedule is coming to the NFL, sooner or later) “I don’t know. There are a lot of issues with it. If you extend the season, you’ve got issues with it being awfully cold up north if you’re playing in February; and if you start early, you’re starting before Labor Day and a lot of people are still on vacation. So there are a number of issues involved, and I don’t know whether that will happen or not. I know our coaches would rather stay with a four-game preseason because we’ve got all these rookies, and that’s our chance to work with them. And for the die-hard fan, this is their chance – even though the preseason game doesn’t count on the record, it’s your opportunity to see what kind of talent you have and the depth of that talent, and you’re not going to be able to see it until later in the year unless there’s some injuries. Then all of a sudden, a player comes forth and you either know something about them or you don’t, because you’ve been watching them play. So it’s an important part of the whole program.”
(on which way he would lean if a proposed 18-game schedule came up for a vote) “I don’t know, because a lot of other things would be impacted. What would you do with your roster? Would you increase your roster? What would you do with injured reserve rules? Would you let players go on it and then come back off? There would be a number of questions involved, and at this point in time, I’m not sure that that’s a good idea.”
Gary Kubiak:
(on if he’s keeping a close eye on how much the young players grasp) “Yeah. As a matter of fact, I told the team after practice, I think one of the keys to longevity in this League success-wise is young players getting better real quick. It’s fun for me right now to sit here and watch (WR) Keshawn (Martin), to watch (CB) Roc (Carmichael), (DE) Delano (Johnson), (G) Brandon Brooks all of the sudden become pros at a very young age. If we’re going to keep going, be consistent at what we’re doing, guys like that have to step up and contribute right away. I like what I see. I think some young guys have really come in here a lot better football player right now than they were last year.”
(on OLB Brooks Reed) “He’s doing great. First off, boy, bless him. He probably feels like a yo-yo sometimes; he’s bounced around a little bit. We thought it was important that he took his reps inside with where we’re at as a team right now. He’s fine. I mean, he has no problem mentally. He’s looked really good and he’s healthy. He’s coming off that surgery but he’s doing good. For the better of the team right now, that’s where he’s working. He’s doing a good job.”
(on what he has seen from WR Keshawn Martin) “It’s automatic for him now. All his talent has taken over because he doesn’t have to work so hard at the little things; assignment, those type of things. He just comes out here and plays. Very confident young man and it shows. It shows every day.”
(on what he’s seen specifically from WR Keshawn Martin that has changed) “These three days have been very impressive to me. I just see a guy that, year two, nothing’s hard for him anymore. He understands everything that’s going on so he just comes out here and works and gets better every day. Me sitting (WR) Andre (Johnson) every other day makes him a starter, too, from that standpoint. I’m really excited about what I’ve seen these past three days.”
(on OLB Whitney Mercilus) “He’s done really good. First off, you can tell he’s confident. Whitney has probably talked more in a day than he did all last year. He’s coming out of his shell from that standpoint. He’s another player; here’s a second-year guy that’s being asked to become a great player real quick. If we’re going to get to where we want to go, those are the type of things that have to happen. He’s off to a good start.”
(on how OLB Sam Montgomery looks dropping into coverage) “He’s doing fine. The position he’s playing, he’s not asked to drop a lot. He has gotten in better shape. I think he struggled the first camp we had that weekend. So he’s in much better shape and then his ability starts to take over. I think he’s progressing well, he and (OLB) Trevardo (Williams) both.”
(on if he plans to change the rotation on the right side of the offensive line from last season) “I’ll do what I think is best for our team and I don’t know what that is right now. (G) Brandon (Brooks) is working as the starting right guard. (T Derek) Newton is out. (T) Brennan Williams has not been able to practice. (T) Ryan Harris is on the right side. We have a lot of things going on right now, but if we have two solid starters that are consistent throughout the course of camp, then that’s the way we’ll go. But I think with what we went through last year, I think those young guys did a hell of a job.”
Danieal Manning:
(on if the safeties are interchangeable in defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ system) “On paper there is a real strong (safety) and free (safety) but in certain formations it’ll get us interchangeable. Mainly, I might have to play free certain formations; sometimes he’s down in the box in certain formations. So it doesn’t matter in this defense.”
(on if it makes a difference to him if he is playing free or strong safety, or for FS Ed Reed) “It doesn’t. I mean, when he came in earlier, he said, ‘Look man, we’re just gonna play either side. Whatever you feel comfortable with, we’ll just play. We’ll make our calls and adjustments that way.’”