HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on it being tough starting the season with three road games) * *
"It's been pretty crazy. Of course, there are (other) circumstances that dictated that, with the hurricane and stuff. We've played three really good football teams with Pittsburgh and Tennessee and Jacksonville. We really played pretty poorly for about the first six quarters of the season. We've played better here the last game-and-a-half, but still haven't made that play to get our first victory. We were in a great football game last week and Jacksonville made the play late in the game instead of us. So it's been tough, but we just have to keep battling, keep our head up and stay positive and keep working."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on if it is too early for desperation mode and a possible 0-4 start)
"I think it's way too early for that. We don't approach any game any different. If we were 3-0 we would approach this football game the same way. And it's a long season. Our start has not been good. We're going to get our eight home games and eight road games just like everybody else in this league. It's just interesting how it's worked out. My concern really is just how we're playing, not so concerned with getting caught up in the record as trying to figure out a way to play better football. And if we play better football or play like we played last week and then improve upon that then we're going to have our chance to win our games. So we're trying to focus on ourselves."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on having four straight home games)
"It will be nice to be home for a month. I think as of last Friday everybody on our team had electricity back and was back in their home, so it's good that all of their families are back comfortable again and it will be nice to get back home playing in front of the home crowd."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on the stadium's roof being open and if weather and drainage is a concern)
"I don't really know enough about that to give you a real honest answer. I know that the stadium is built to close the roof when we have inclement weather, and we won't be able to do that. Normally when we play here you know you're always going to play in perfect weather, whether it's open or whether you have to close it and play inside. So all of a sudden that could be a new factor if we got weather because it is going to get in the stadium. So that will be a little bit different, but it's just something we have to work through. It's an unfortunate situation and I think everybody's done the best job they possibly can to make it work."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on what he has seen from the Colts)
"I see the same things that I always see. I see the explosive offense that can be very, very difficult to contain. I see a defense that flies around, does a great job of getting after the quarterback, up-the-field football team. They could very easily be 3-0 also. That's this league, it's one play here or there and those things happen to you. They're a great football team, world champs very recently from that standpoint and have the same people, so we'll have to play as good as we can play."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on the Colts offensive weapons and what it does to a defense)
"It's tough. You're not going to stop them, you hopefully contain them. Hopefully you do a good job of containing them and not give up the big plays. This quarterback (Peyton Manning) is as good as I've ever seen, and I've been in this game for a long time. Some of the plays he's making, watching that Jacksonville game; they did not have the football very long, but some of the plays they made and to still have themselves in position to win that game late in the game, they just never cease to amaze me. I was just very impressed. Unfortunately, I've gotten to watch them a lot through my years. We've played them quite a bit. Just a tremendous group."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on the progression of Mario Williams)
"He's become a great player. He's more comfortable with what he's doing. He studies opponents better, what he's going to do to beat that player across from him. He understands scheme-wise what's going on, so he's more into technique now. His effort is relentless. Every snap, he's going as hard as he can go and as long as he can go, just becoming a great, great player. And that's what we have to have on this team for us to move forward. And believe me, he's doing his part."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on if he moves Mario Williams around on the line)
"Mario has no problem moving around. Mario can handle anything. He's a very smart young man. We can do a lot of things with him. The key is, are we handling it defensively when we do move him around? Is everybody else handling it? So that's something that we have to just continue to evaluate. As far as what we ask Mario to do, he can handle a lot."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on WR-Andre Johnson)
"When you run across these great players like this, for me personally, the one thing that they all have in common is work habits. The great ones I've been around, Jerry Rice, Rod Smith, those type players, everybody looks at their production and how they play and then looks at Sunday, but nobody sees what they are Monday through Saturday. And usually they all have one thing in common, they're probably the hardest-working guys out there. And I know our guy here is as hard a worker as I've ever been around."
HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK (on WR-Andre Johnson)
"This kid's been fighting the fight here with this young organization trying to get itself going. This kid has been the mainstay. He has been the heart and soul around here. A lot of guys get very easily frustrated. This kid shows up every week, gives you everything he has, great attitude, very upbeat. The football part I could talk about all day, but I think what he stands for as a man is exceptional also."
HOUSTONTEXANS CONFERENCE CALL
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on finally getting recognition)
"I guess so. That's not up to me. I just go out and try to play to the best of my ability. I'm not a guy who gets caught up into all the media stuff and things like that. If people recognize me, they recognize me. If they don't, they don't. It doesn't bother me."
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on quality time in Miami with Reggie Wayne)
"Me and Reggie are good friends. Actually I had a chance to hang out with him just before the regular season started. Me and Reggie are real cool. The year he made it over there (to the Pro Bowl) and both of us were there, we were always together. During the offseason we're around each other a lot. Reggie was a guy at Miami when I first got there, he was there when I came on my recruiting visit and he was my host. He's been a great friend of mine since then."
* *
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on what he focuses on to get better)
"I just try to learn to become a smarter player, be more patient. A lot of times as players, we're out there on the field trying to rush things, and I think that's something I need to improve on right now, just becoming a more patient and smarter player."
* *
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on Colts CBs-Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden)
"They're great players. Just going against that defense is tough. Playing against them, you can't be one-dimensional. When you play against them you just have to try to control the game because they have a real explosive offense that can put a lot of points on you. You just try to go out against them and try to control what you can control and just try to make some plays."
* *
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on trying to avoid 0-4)
"You want to win every game, but we just haven't won our first three games. It's been tough for us, but we're going to try to do what we can do and go out and try to win this game on Sunday."
* *
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on if it is good to be home)
"Yes it is. It's been a little stretch for us, going through the hurricane stuff and things like that. It is great to be back home playing in front of our fans."
* *
WR-ANDRE JOHNSON (on the four-game homestand and possibly coming out 4-3 and a contender)
"Anything can happen. We're going to out and try to win every game that we can and hopefully we can come out of this 4-3 and we're just going to go out and take it one game at a time."
