Q: What are your feelings after the Texans'
performance against the Titans?
Kubiak: "I don’t feel very
good at all. I preach to this football team that the steps we take as a
football team is that we have to be able to go on the road and protect the
football and play a solid football game and see what results we will get. We
have yet to do that. We have had too many bad things happen to us on the road
and until we clean those up it’s going to be hard for us to go out there and win
on the road."
Q: Was it hard benching David Carr?
Kubiak: "It was extremely
hard. It’s extremely hard to do that to any football player in that situation.
I just felt like we were not protecting the ball and I don’t think it was all
David’s fault. I want you all to understand that. We could have protected him
better but ultimately when you are the guy under the center, you have got to
protect the football. I demand that who ever plays that position protect the
ball and that’s what I just told David. David is our quarterback. He will be
right back next week but he’s going to protect the ball next week. That’s part
of our job. That’s all that was about. David will be the quarterback next
week for the Texans."
Q: Did Carr lobby to return to the game?
Kubiak: "He was very pissed
and should have been. I’m proud of him and he is a tough kid. That’s a tough
pill to swallow. I talked to him about some other guys that I have been through
this with. To be great in this league you have got to pay a tremendous price.
You’ve got to go through a lot. He’s going through a tough day today. It’s
just as tough on our football team but I expect him to bounce back and pay he
tail off next week."
Q: How much can it help Carr to sit out the final half?
Kubiak: "When you play
quarterback, you don’t ever want to be in the position where you want to step
back and take a look at this. That’s very very hard. I just want him to
understand why we were doing it because he turned the ball over and that was the
only reason. I think Sage Rosenfels came in and played extremely well. Like I
said, we will move forward. David is going to come back and play next week."
Q: Is the fact that Carr was under a lot of pressure a factor?
Kubiak: "This is not all
about David. He was under pressure and did get hit. When I coach a quarterback,
even if you are getting hit, you have got to protect the ball. That’s just part
of it. We have got that better. Should we have protected better? You can find
a lot of guys in that room that are going to take that blame for not protecting.
I can guarantee you that. I just want him to understand his responsibility for
protecting the football. Our defense was playing very well. If we don’t turn
the ball over in the first half, you know? To be in the football game in the
NFL having five turnovers is unbelievable anyway."
Q: Why did the special teams have a breakdown?
Kubiak: "We did not play
well. Actually we were trying to kick the ball towards the sideline and pin
this kid. He is the best in the business and we didn’t do a good job of that
and he got out and had a big play on us. With Edell Shepherd I don’t know. It’s
obvious he lost his confidence a little bit in the game and that is on us as
coaches if that happens to a player. We have got to give someone else an
opportunity. I believe in the kid. He had been doing a good job. It was a little
bit of a breeze out there, not much, but looks like he lost his confidence just
fielding the ball a few times."
Q: What are your thoughts on the number of penalties?
Kubiak: "We were on the field
a long time on offense. I know we moved the ball well in the game. We were on
the field and a lot of that was no huddle. Looks like we jumped off sides in
some situations and even struggled a few times but I think the guys were
battling their butts off."
Q: What was the deciding factor to bench QB David Carr?
Kubiak: "To be honest, at
halftime I told our team we struggle in the third quarter guys. Today, for us
to have a have a chance we are going to have to play the best third quarter
we’ve played all year. Our football team was very upbeat at halftime. I told
David, ‘We have got to protect the ball. I don’t care what happens, we protect
the ball in the second half or I am going to have to give Sage a chance. I told
him. I know he got hit. We didn’t protect well right there. The ball comes
out. That’s what I told him I was going to do and I’m a man of my word."