HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (opening comments) * *
"Well, it was a great football game. I am proud of our team's effort, they played hard. Obviously, we had a chance at the end to still be out there playing. Defense got us in the game. Offensively, we were very sloppy in the first quarter we did not play with the poise we've been playing football with but our defense kept us in there. Back in the second half, football team wise I do not think we had some very good defensive sessions. We did have that one turnover there in the fourth quarter and they went down to score. We had our chances, we had two chances to win the game there at the end. The quarterback gets hit and we miss that field goal. I am proud of our team though."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on the offensive play in the first half)
"We were a little out of sync. On the first play of the game- we make that play every day at practice. Second play of the game, the same. That is uncommon for us. We script that opening, those first fifteen plays, and practice them over and over again. We just made mistakes. We put our defense out there I think three times in a row. To put that out there, that many times, especially in this stadium, we were lucky that we were only down 10-0. I like the way we were when we started to settle down and played pretty well for three quarters. Big turnover there on the two-yard-line. Our turnovers ultimately hurt us at the end of the day, I think we ended up minus one in turnovers. Turnovers are what get you beat."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on the fumble challenge)
"We did not even know until the play had been stopped because of the two-minute warning that there even was an issue. Someone in the Press Box said 'I think they are looking at where the ball was.' We thought it was out of bounds. The way it was explained to me was that, the ball did come out nobody argued that- we felt like the players were out of bounds that were touching the ball. What they said was that the runner was on top of whoever that player was that was tackling him. He was on top of that player and so technically he was not out of bounds and still in the field of play."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on defensive play)
"I thought defensively we played pretty well. We'll go back and look. I think we are a good defensive football team and played very well.When you hold this team to twenty points you feel you have an excellent chance to win. We did that and we just could not get it done."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on what "it is" with that Colts)
"That is why they are a champion. That is why they are 8-0. They play all they can play. They win whenever they have to win. When the game is going on they make the plays they need to. You have to give them credit."
QB-MATT SCHAUB (on how he feels post-game)
"It is frustrating. It is disappointing to know that we were right there and were not able to get it done. It was a missed opportunity. It is frustrating."
QB-MATT SCHAUB (on the difference between the first half and the second half)
"Turnovers. Against a team like this they will make you pay if you turn the ball over."
QB-MATT SCHAUB (on this being a painful loss)
"It's very painful. Against a good opponent, on the road, it hurts you deep when you come so close and do not pull off a win."
QB-MATT SCHAUB (on the last interception)
"Yes, my arm got hit as I was releasing."
QB-MATT SCHAUB (on his thoughts about going in to overtime)
"Well, yes. In those situations you think positively. I thought we would absolutely go in to overtime."
K – KRIS BROWN (on the final kick) Sunday, November 8, 2009
"I missed the kick. I went out there, went through my routine. I felt the ball come off my foot really well. The ball just moved a little left."
K – KRIS BROWN (on how tough missing that last kick was) Sunday, November 8, 2009
"It's my job. I take a lot of pride in coming through for this team, especially in those situations. To have that happened with the way our guys played, for me is very disappointing."
FS- EUGENE WILSON (on how the defense played today)
"The defense came out with an aggressive approach today. We really felt like we could contend with them. It was a good game. Obviously, Peyton (Manning) is going to make plays. They made plays, we made plays, but we came up short today."
FS - EUGENE WILSON (on how painful this loss is)
"It's very painful. It feels like we are finally there. It was another close game. We still have another shot at them, and we will be looking forward to that in a couple weeks. We are going to go to the game film, check out what we did wrong and correct the mistakes. "
FS - EUGENE WILSON (on what to take away from this game)
"We can take positives out of it. There were a lot of positives out there. At the same time, we still did some things that we probably shouldn't have, and we are just trying to clean up those mistakes the next time."
WR – KEVIN WALTER (on feeling the game turning into the Texans favor)
"It definitely felt like it was turning. The defense played well all game. They played extremely well. They helped us stay in the game. They helped us get the ball back. (Bernard) Pollard did a great job. The whole defense did."
WR – KEVIN WALTER (on the offense getting going in the second half)
"In the first half we were 0 for 6, I think on third down. In the second half we stayed on the field. We made plays that ate up the clock. That's what we wanted to do, but we still have to do a better job."
DE – MARIO WILLIAMS (on people saying the Texans are the real deal now)
"We need to start winning games we definitely should have won, we just didn't. It came right down to the end and we didn't get it done."
DE – MARIO WILLIAMS (on how painful this loss is)
"It's very painful. Is it going to discourage us from doing what we need to do and continue on? No it's not."
DE – MARIO WILLIAMS (on giving up only nine yards to the Colts offense in the third quarter)
"It's huge. That is Peyton Manning out there. He's running the show. For us to come out of the locker room and capitalize like we did, putting us in a position to win, that's big for us."
WR – ANDRE JOHNSON (on the emotions right now after coming so close)
"I don't even know what to say. I'm speechless. We went out there and we played hard and once again we came up short."
WR – ANDRE JOHNSON (on why it took until midway into the second period for the offense to get on track)
"I think going against this team you can't be one dimensional. In the first half we were just trying to win the ball game and throw the ball. You have to rush the ball on this team. Once we started getting the running game going it opened up everything. The biggest thing for us is just getting in a rhythm and we didn't get in a rhythm in the first half."
CB- DUNTA ROBINSON (on the loss in general)
"It's a tough one. It's a hard pill to swallow. The thing about it is we get to play them in a couple of weeks and can redeem ourselves. This is definitely a game we would have liked to have won."
CB- DUNTA ROBINSON (on controlling the Colts' big plays)
"We just did what we were coached to do … and that is not to try to do too much. We wanted to play a solid football game, and that's what we did on the defensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, we didn't make the plays that we had to, to win this football game."
CB- DUNTA ROBINSON (on the AFC South race)
"We just have to keep fighting. This team has nothing but fighters on it. We won't go in the tank, especially when we think it's a football game we could have won. We'll correct our mistakes and hopefully the outcome next time will be much different."
LB- BRIAN CUSHING (on the loss in general)
"This would have been a huge upper if we had won this game. We didn't, but … we're going to still have the same work ethic, the same attitude."
LB- BRIAN CUSHING (on controlling the Colts' big-play offense but losing)
"(Peyton Manning) just finds a way to win. He dinks and dunks and finds the spots. You have to get more turnovers, find the ways to get the ball. You just have to limit it and find ways to get the ball. Sometimes 20 points isn't enough; you have to hold him to 17 or 14 or whatever you can."
RB- RYAN MOATS (on his fumble near the goal line)
"That was just a freaky play. …I didn't have control of my body at the time. I had to get in there and try to make up for it later in the game. … I thought I was out of bounds, but they reviewed it and I guess they thought otherwise. It's just something you have to play through."
DB-BERNARD POLLARD (on the loss in general)
"It hurts to fight so hard and put it all on the line. Now we go into the bye and we need to get things figured out. It didn't go our way today, but we just have to continue to grind it out."
DB-BERNARD POLLARD (on whether the loss spoiled one of his best days as a pro, including playing in his home state)
"It's not an individual game. I'm a big believer in that. Yes, it is home, and there was a lot of family and everything else here. But, as I said, this is not an individual sport. We have to keep grinding, keep everybody's spirits up and just keep going."
DB-BERNARD POLLARD (on the Colts' no-huddle offense)
"Man, we knew they were going to do the no-huddle, but they were high intensity. I'm not going to lie, it kind of caught us off guard. But we regrouped and did everything we could to get off the field, and I think we did a good job today."
OL -ERIC WINSTON (on the loss in general)
"We were close, but we have to find a way to get it done. There are a lot of teams that are close in this league. We have to find a way to get over the hump. We have seven more games to do it. We have three more division games coming up and I think that will tell the tale for us. If we can win those three division games, it's going to put us in a good spot going down the stretch."
OL – ERIC WINSTON (on whether the Texans can take anything from the close loss)
"I think guys stepped up. But as a team, there's not a lot to take away. Getting close, that's what it is."
OL – ERIC WINSTON (on the offense's bad start and head coach Gary Kubiak's instructions on the sideline)
"(He was saying) just to calm down. We were kind of in disarray. We had some penalties to start the game. We just had to settle down and play. We liked our game plan going in, we liked what we were going to do. We just had to get down and execute."
