BB: I think everybody has the roster
situation. Just one quick word on Doug [Gabriel], I appreciate how hard he
worked and what he tried to do here. Just unfortunately, the way the whole
thing came down, it just didn't work out. I don't know if that's anybody's
fault, that's just the way it was. We're onto Houston here. This is a young,
aggressive team. They have a lot of young, talented players and they're
starting to show up in just about every phase of the game. I think this is a
really good special teams unit. They have an excellent kicker in [Kris] Brown. [They have] a couple of good returners. That was really the
difference for them a couple of weeks ago against Oakland. They had a couple
of long returns and Brown made three field goals. That was indicative of
their ability to play in the kicking game. Defensively they have, obviously,
the two young players there, Mario [Williams] and [DeMeco] Ryans have been
outstanding. They've made a lot of plays. They have a lot of speed,
athleticism and that production to the defensive unit. They've shut down
some good offensive football teams. At times they've given up some plays,
but they blitz a lot. They can be disruptive and cause some negative plays
and turn the ball over. When they're doing those things, it's working in
their favor. They certainly have the speed and the athleticism to do it as
well as have a lot of good veteran players on that team too, some fairly
young veterans, guys like [Dunta] Robinson, who I think is one of the better
corners we've played this year. [Anthony] Weaver on the defensive line, guys
like that. Offensively, they have big receivers. We've seen plenty of [Eric] Moulds and André Johnson. Those guys are big. They can run. They can run
after the catch. The tight ends have been productive. [Owen] Daniels has
done a good job for them. [Jeb] Putzier. They kind of have three guys at the
running back position and they've all done well. [David] Carr is a very
athletic quarterback. They have some young kids that are coming along on the
offensive line. They've made a couple of changes there at tackle and at
center, but they've done well. The guards have been steady for them, [Fred] Weary and [Chester] Pitts. Like I said, a young team that you see improving
every week. They really played an outstanding game against Tennessee last
week. They lost on a long scramble there to [Vince] Young. I think they
played very competitively. There have been a lot of games where kind of some
of the same things that we said about Detroit a couple of weeks ago – their
record isn't what they want it to be. They've played very competitively and
they're improving and they have a lot of young players there. It looks like
they're going to very good players in this league, they already are. Ryans
leads the league in tackles. It's pretty easy to see what Williams can do.
That's what it looks like on the Texans.
Q: When did things turn with Gabriel?
It seemed like he was really improving after that Minnesota game, he had
five catches.
BB: Again, he did some things for us. I just felt like in the long run
here, where we are at this point in time, I thought it was the best thing
for the football team.
Q: Would it be accurate to characterize that situation saying this system
isn't a great fit for every player?
BB: I think that's definitely…I think that's related to it. I would say
that we could say that about a lot of players that have been here, that are
in the league and playing with other teams and doing better than they did
here. There are several at that position. I would say that's definitely
relevant.
Q: Was it strictly an on-field issue with Gabriel?
BB: Absolutely.
Q: What are some of the specific things that receivers have to do here to
fit into your system?
BB: There are a lot of things that receivers have to do. It's just at
this point, we felt like that was the best decision for the football team. I
think that Doug has shown that he can be productive. We've seen that. We saw
it in Oakland. For what we're doing, we just didn't think it was going to
work out.
Q: Was Chad Jackson close last week to playing in the game?
BB: Chad is getting better. Chad is getting better. He's getting closer.
He's continued to make improvement. We'll see where he's at this week, next
week and going forward.
Q: How has his practice performance been?
BB: He missed a lot of time earlier in the year. He's tried to make that
up. He hasn't been on the field with as much consistency as he or any of us
would like for him to have during the season, but he's worked hard in the
opportunities that he's had and he's continued to get better. You'd like to
have that be a daily situation. Unfortunately it hasn't always been one.
Q: On a somewhat different note, did you have any contact in your years
in the league with Lamar Hunt? What are your thoughts about him?
BB: Well, he's definitely an AFC guy. He's all about AFC/NFC. Probably
the most time that I spent with him was the year that I went to Kansas City for the 101 Club Awards that they have. I got to spend a pretty decent
amount of time with him there. A wonderful guy and really committed to the
league and his team. He's done a great job with that franchise. If you're
not playing them and you're in the AFC, he's for you. He's well respected by
all of the people in his organization. There've been a lot of them through
there. Marty [Schottenheimer]. Bill Cowher. All the ones that have been
through there. Dick [Vermeil], of course. A lot of people in the front office,
too. Lynn Stiles, guys like that. Carl [Peterson]. In talking to them,
there's a lot of affection.
Q: Would he have regarded the teams that came over after merger from the
old NFL, like Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Cleveland, would he have looked
at them differently based on the fact that they weren't true AFC teams?
BB: I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know whether he
accepted them as part of his family or they we just cousins. That's a good
question. I don't know. I'm not sure. A couple of Super Bowls and you see
him before the game or after the game and [he'd say], 'Win it for the AFC,'
that kind of thing. But he was very gracious when I was out there [and] a
great host.
Q: What are your thoughts on Miami potentially getting your cadence of
line calls last week? Is there anything to that?
BB: I don't think so. We are a lot more concerned about Houston than Miami. I stand out on that field every day, as do our defensive players –
and we have some pretty smart players – and I don't see it. If I can't pick
it up and our players can't pick it up with what we know and the
opportunities we get to see and work against each other, I have a hard time
thinking somebody else has got it.
Q: Is it just too unrealistic given the timing?
BB: You tell me what the play is and maybe we can talk about it. I don't
know.
Q: Did your guys complain about it at all?
BB: [This is] the first I've heard about it.
Q: Does it concern you that other teams might try to take the same
approach going forward?
BB: What approach is that? What are we talking about?
Q: Going by what Miami said.
BB: Well, I don't know what we're talking about. You tell me what it is,
what they heard, what play. That's not how we do it. I don't really know
what you're talking about.
Q: They claim they knew the protections.
BB: The protections are called in the huddle. We don't call the
protections at the line. Rarely.
Q: They seemed to imply they got it off the regular network feed. Is
there any other way to get film other than the coach's stuff that you guys
exchange? Is there any other source to get audio of that other than the TV
feed?
BB: Satellite. [Laughter] Look, I'm just trying to coach the team, make
decisions during the game. Technology, that's not really my thing. I can
barely turn the computer on and off.
Q: You've always been very open, is this going to cause you to be a
little bit more closed?
BB: Yeah. [Laughter]. You're a mind reader.
Q: What was your evaluation of DeMeco Ryans coming out?
BB: A real productive player. I think he's a versatile player and can do
a lot of different things. He can play the run. He can blitz. He's athletic.
He can play in coverage. He's tough. He's a good tackler.
Q: Coming out, they said his intangibles were excellent. He was a very
intelligent player.
BB: Yes. I talked to Mike Shula about him. Mike had a lot of great things
to say about him as a person, as a worker, as a leader. In fact I talked to
Mike and I think that's one of the players that they missed this year, that
type of player in [Brodie] Croyle, they had several of them that had come
into the NFL this year and not only were they good players and good athletes
and all of that, but they also had a lot of leadership and brought a lot of
toughness to the team that I'm sure any team would miss.
Q: Is it unusual for a rookie to be that productive to the point where
they're leading the league in tackles?
BB: Yes, well we always talk about stats are stats, but you can't deny
the production either and he makes a lot of plays. There's no doubt about
it. He makes a lot of plays and he makes them in different aspect of the
game. He's blitzed and been productive. He's been productive in the running
game. He's been productive in the passing game. He's a good player. He's
very instinctive. He's smart. You can see him making calls and making
adjustments out there defensively when the teams shift and formation, his
communication with the line and the secondary, just watching him on film,
I'm not out there with him, but it looks like he has a pretty good
understanding and command of what's going on, which it sounded like he did
coming out of college. He's done a good job for them and Williams has been a
good player, too. He adds a lot of power and speed and athletic ability to
that defense. He's been productive, too. They have two good, young players
there.
Q: How much carryover do you see from Denver to Houston?
BB: Offensively?
Q: On both sides of the ball.
BB: I would say a lot more offensively than defensively. There's no
question about that. Yes, offensively there's a lot of similarities in the
running game. I think it's probably pretty much the same running game Denver has. Again, the variation is in the frequency that the play is called or the
formation that it's built out of. They do a lot of formationing as Denver
did. The passing game definitely has some similarities. I would say there
are some differences. They have two big, vertical receivers and they go to
them. They have very athletic tight ends. Those guys are very productive in
the passing game. Putzier and Daniels are both…they're not receivers, but
they're almost close to being receivers. [Mark] Bruener of course gives them
more of a blocking presence at that position. The combination of those guys
there, I would say different than Denver, but there are a lot of
similarities too.
Q: How does Carr fit that system?
BB: Carr is as athletic a quarterback as we face this year. I know we may
face one more athletic than him in succeeding weeks here, but Carr is fast.
He's very fast. He has quick feet in the pocket. He's a hard guy to sack if
he has any space to avoid the rush, if he gets blindsided or something,
that's one thing. But he's quick in the pocket and can avoid the rush and
can throw on the run. They design running plays for him. When you design
running plays for a quarterback, whether it's a sweep or a trap or something
like that, the guy can run. You're not going up put in those plays for
somebody else. You really can't do those things. To me, that gives me an
idea of what they think of him as a runner and he's had some very productive
plays. He had a really good play against Jacksonville where it was a
quarterback sweep and he broke, it was about a third-and-10 and he broke a
couple of tackles and ran over a guy at the sticks for the first down. It
made him look like a running back. He's that kind of athlete back there.
Good arm. Quick feet. He's hitting a high percentage of passes and making a
lot of good decisions. Their turnovers are down.
Q: How is Rodney [Harrison] coming along?
BB: Everybody is doing better.
Q: How important is it for you that he get a regular season game under
his belt before the postseason?
BB: The most important thing for us is to have everybody as healthy as
possible so they can play and that's what everybody is working towards.
Whenever it happens, it happens.
Q: Is he the kind of guy who can just step right back in and be good to
go?
BB: I think it's the same thing for every player. Every player is better
off out there practicing being on the field than not being on the field. As
quickly as they get out there and get re-acclimated to what they're doing
and ready to go, they can be competitive. How long that takes? What it is? I
try to go by what I see and take it on a case-by-case basis. Why treat it
any other way?
Q: You tell us a lot last week, last month, last year – it doesn't matter, but after the game you sort
of brought up the fact that you guys are 9-4…
BB: I didn't bring it up. I didn't bring that up.
Q: You didn't bring the record up after the game?
BB: The question was asked about…how was the questioned phrased? I don't
care about last week. Last week is over.
Q: Did your team need a confidence boost? Did you tell them that message,
'We're 9-4?'
BB: It doesn't make any difference what our record is. We play Houston
this week. That's the only game we can do anything about. That's the only
game in our control. That's the only game we're thinking about. That's it.
It doesn't make any difference what our record is. It doesn't make any
difference what their record is. This game will be decided by which team
plays better on Sunday and part of that is the preparation going into the
week. So that's all I care about. |
