2013 Houston Texans OTAs: Quotes From Day Nine

Gary Kubiak held OTAs early yesterday morning so the team could attend the memorial service for the fallen Houston firefighters at Reliant Stadium. He still had time to answer a few questions after the last session; as always, here's a complete transcript of that exchange, courtesy of the team's official site. Some quotes that caught my eye are below.

Gary Kubiak:

(on why it was so important to go the Firefighter Memorial Service at Reliant Stadium as a team) "Our community means so much to us as an organization, that goes without saying. These players, they come from all over the country and they become a Houstonian. We put a team together and get very close to our city and it something that we talked about as a team with the players the other day. We get so much support from them and its time for us to show our support for these families and the people that serve our city on a daily basis. It’s interesting; we’ve had a few things happen this offseason with coaches’ families and a few things going on. It kind of makes you stop and we’ve got a lot of other things other than football going on in our lives that we’ve got to handle, too. We want to help these families handle this situation."

(on TE Ryan Griffin finding open spaces in the last few days) "Yeah. He has a chance to be a really good player and I think he can get bigger, too. So we’re excited. He fits the mold with what we do at tight end with the guys we have. He’s very smart and I saw him make a few plays out here today. It was a good practice. We were only out here about an hour and 20 minutes trying to teach no-huddle and hurry-up. I think we got a lot out of it."

(on the play of QB Case Keenum) "He’s playing really well. You all see it. You all come out and watch practice. He’s got a ton of confidence. He knows exactly what’s going on this year, so that’s not going to be the problem. It’s just a matter of getting it done and he’s operating that way. Every time he’s gotten a chance with his group he’s made plays and he’s protected the ball well, too. That’s one thing I’ve been impressed with. I think he’s thrown maybe one interception throughout the course of the OTAs, so he’s come a long, long way."

(on QB T.J. Yates) "(QB) T.J. (Yates) is fine. When you’re working as the (No.) 2 (quarterback), you’re working against the first-team defense in certain drills, so that’s a tough deal. I understand that. I did that for a while. But T.J.’s doing good. He had the OTAs. I think he’s made progress off the last year but he’s getting pushed and he knows it and it’s going to make them both better."

(on what he’s seen from K Randy Bullock) "I don’t watch him as much with (special teams coordinator) Joe (Marciano) until we start doing the team stuff here. But I thought today in kickoffs he was excellent. I think he was 6-of-8 today in field goals. We need him to be automatic but we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. That’s why he’s the only guy here, basically. We need him to come on real quick for us. Need it to get done."

(on if he expects LT Duane Brown to be fine in time for training camp) "Yeah. I expect him to be fine in a couple weeks. It’s just a decision we made yesterday. It’s bothered him the last couple days and he doesn’t need to go through a whole year worrying about that so that’s why we did it."