LIVE: The Houston Texans address the media

LIVE: The Houston Texans address the media

fire away. When it comes to the uh NFL protocol, you can kind of explain just sort of how these guys stay in the protocol and what they have to do still to pass. Specifically CJ and Jaylen. Yeah, for the protocol, each guy has their own steps of what they have to pass. Um, you know, it’s a lot of different steps and each guy’s different when it comes to the symptoms that they’re having and what they’re feeling. Um, so whatever they report that they’re feeling, like we’re going to take that to heart and make sure we’re taking extra precaution with the guys whenever it’s a concussion issue. So right now, as we stand today, they’re still in concussion protocol. With the Colts receiving game, you mentioned their passing attacking the other day with Pierce, DS, and Pitman. It feels like they all kind of do something different and they all do it pretty well. How do you see how the Colts kind of use those different skill sets to to benefit themselves? The Colts utilize their receivers in a variety of ways. Starting with Pierce when you see more of the down the field shots like he’s a he’s a problem downfield, averaging over 20 yards per catch. So very explosive player downfield. uh you know pier I mean I’ll say downs is more of the you know slot player where he does a lot of option routes finds a way to get open very quick player shifty player uh who’s very quarterback friendly and yeah Pitman who’s just all around just a tough player physical uh can find a way to get open and they utilize all those guys in in ways that really helps them to put the guys in position where they’re most successful and they do the things that they do best. What is this? What does your offense need to do doing well against the Colts because of the kind of defense they run? Yeah, for us off offensively, we have to just be play with awareness. They have a lot of different looks, a lot of different pressures that they can deploy. I think their backers are really good players. They play aggressive downhill. Uh Nicholls a good player. I mean, they they’re a talented team. So, we just have to make sure we’re aware for when they are running the pressures. And you know, they’ll have some different looks where they’re dropping guys out, dropping D linemen out as well. So, we just have to be, you know, really smart from the quarterback perspective of understanding our reads and going through and making the best decisions we can make with the football. And overall, we have to protect the football as an offense and find a way to drive, win third down, and go score. What what do you feel like has been uh most important in in you all being able to uh sustain this threeame winning streak and get you alloselves back in in a bre more breathable position. Each game I always say each game is it’s its own deal, right? And whatever we have to do in that particular game to win, we’ve won in a variety of different ways. So to me, you know, what have we done? We found a way to finish. That’s what has that’s been the difference for us in these past three games. We found a way to finish. We played clean. We protected the football well. We’ve taken the football away and we finished the right way. So, we continue that formula. All right. We should be in a good position. Obviously, a lot of teams run defensive stunts and things of that nature. Obviously, play to end the game against the Bills was obviously a pretty good ex executed play to get the rankings on Josh. What kind of just goes into executing those at a high level to where you can just feel confident calling that high pressure situation like our defense defensive line and how we run our different packages is it’s just about you know our feel for the game and what we’re calling at that particular time where we’ll do whatever we think works to help us be in a position to go get the quarterback. But um if CJ does clear protocol this weekend, he is back in the game. How long do you think it’ll take? Is it the same as coming off a normal injury getting back into the flow of the game as far as game speed has is concerned? Him being away for the last three weeks. Whatever the injury is, like it’s different for each guy and you know how long it takes for a guy to bounce back and get back into you know the form that they were in previously. It takes time and so we’ll, you know, we’ll see what happens. If if he’s out there and playing, we hope it’s he’s playing at his at his highest level to help us be in position to win the game. So, blocking Lu. What are some things you’re seeing from him? It seems like this year particular lately has really come on. Yeah, Lu has definitely gotten a lot better as a pass rusher, finding a way to be more slippery, finish on a lot of his rushes. He’s leading their team in sacks, doing a doing a nice job as a young player, finding his way, finding his his craft and how he needs to rush the passer. So, he’s done a good job. We every time we’re, you know, protecting against these guys. It’s just about everybody just finishing, remaining relentless. They’re going to stay after it as rushers. They do a really nice job. So, we have to we have to outwork them. What are some of the things going um kind of follow on Sergeant’s question? um if he is back, what exactly does he kind of just provide for you guys offensively and just from a leadership and teams? Yeah, look, CJ’s been our starter. When he’s out there, he’s he’s played well for us. He’s done some really nice things. You know, when it comes to delivering the football where it needs to be, you know, he’s he’s one of the best in the league at doing that. So, you know, we’re hoping that he gets back, he’s he can get out there and help us. What do you see from Sauce regardless as he’s been playing with the Colts? Sauce is picking up the scheme fairly well. You can see where he’s a guy who can play sticky man coverage. He’s going to challenge you a big corner long. He can run like he’s going to be feisty at the line of scrimmage. Use his hands a lot. We have to really find a way to work an edge and beat man coverage versus versus their corner. Both corners are Shvarius and you know and um what’s my guy name? Sauce. They’re both both good players. Uh, and they’re bigger corners. So, I think that’s a difference in what we’ve seen over the past couple weeks. Both guys taller, physical, more stout corners that really play well at the line of scrimmage. So, it’s going to be some work for us to win at the line of scrimmage. All right. To put these guys in a bind. You and Stiken have faced off in some big games. Winner or go home as assistants and and as head coaches. What what is what is the challenge of facing a Shane Styen offense? Shane is a very very smart coach. He does a really good job of, you know, designing scheme plays to attack you defensively. Like he he knows how to get his guys in position, right? And he knows how to test your rules defensively. Just a really smart play caller. Always kind of a step ahead. So you just have to be on it each and every snap. Anything can pop up. So there aren’t, you know, any plays where you can take a down off and you kind of know what’s coming. You have to be on it every single time. With that, uh, how much do you enjoy the chess match? Sometimes when there’s a coach like that that you respect. I love the chess match. That’s the beauty of the game. That’s what I enjoy most about it. It’s the chess match of, you know, you’re trying to figure out what they’re doing, they’re trying to figure out what you’re doing. So that’s that’s the beauty of coaching, you know, on game day, being in that chess match. You said chess the rules. Can you Can you give me an example of what that looks like? He said he tries to test the rules of what you do defensively. Yeah. Just I think when I say test your rules is more, you know, your eye discipline. Are you really going to be like where you’re supposed to be? Are you really biting heavy on the runs? Right. They’ve done a great job. Jonathan Taylor is outstanding back and they’ve done a great job of running the football. Now, if you overcommit to the run, he has a really uh really intricate play action pass game that can really catch guys off guard if they’re not exactly where they’re supposed to be. Um the opening script that you know once obviously especially with you guys once you guys kind of settle in guys struggle to move the ball consistently throughout the the game kind of the case. Um, you know, there’s some times that opening script, they can have some success moving the ball. Generally speaking, what is it about like that opening script that can make, I guess, things challenging at times for uh an opposing defense? Yeah, look, teams are going to try to come out and within their scripted play. Some guys script it, some guys don’t. But typically, if they’re scripting the first 15 to 20 plays, like there are going to be some uh some shot plays, some opportunities of some plays they haven’t shown before, right? or it may be the same plays, but they get to it in a different look, a different motion, different formation. So, just how guys put the window dressing out there to try to scheme up a play to try to, you know, get an explosive on you early to try to get a lead. And that’s what most offensive coordinators will try to do. So, defensively, you have to kind of weather the storm through the first 15 and not give up any, as I call it, cheap explosives just because you’re not disciplined with your eyes, disciplined with your assignments and techniques. So you have to, you know, remain focused every single snap. Not only those first 15, but there there there is a heightened importance to those first 15. Coach, what is some of the growth you’ve seen from uh from Matt Burke this year? Yeah, Burke has done a great job when it comes to just overall him being able to handle the meetings uh with our guys like installing things and you know going through teaching the guys um our coverages and different plays that we’ll see you know how he’s teaching the Dline the secondary teaching everybody thinks he’s done a really nice job there. What does uh Thanksgiving means to you and your family and do you have a favorite dish from Thanksgiving dinner? Yeah, Thanksgiving is a it’s a awesome holiday, right? We’re all we all have a lot to be thankful for. We’re extremely blessed. Um, and you know, it’s it’s a holiday that I really I I enjoy. I enjoy the time with the family, the joy that Thanksgiving brings. It’s a very joyous joyous time. And u the my favorite meal, you said food. I like it all. whatever Miss Cam makes. Um, when you played, was the eye discipline and the focus that you talk about a lot, did you was that a challenge for you? When I played it was when I started early in my career, a lot of big fullbacks you had to face. So, they weren’t they weren’t as fast and elusive. So, you’re more so better buckle your tin strap up a little bit tighter to go attack these guys downhill. But it wasn’t a as variet wasn’t much variety to the offenses as uh as we have now with so much uh more passing game with the with the tight end position becoming such a more much more athletic position where these guys are they’re really receivers who can get in and block at the line of scrimmage. That’s opened up the playbook a ton uh for offensive coordinators. And then when you throw in the jet motions, the sh all of those things, the shifts and motions and how they’re timing the motions with the snap point, that’s where the game has evolved and you really test your rules as opposed to what you’re doing in coverage. You know, if the snap point is at, let’s say, behind the line of scrimmage or is it snap point out behind the number one receiver. serves a lot of different things and it really helps me as a defensive coach to really hey you test your rules and you have to continue to evolve as a coach. You can’t just sit back and do the same thing all the time. Your rules have to evolve with what the offensive uh coordinators are doing now. What are some of the things that Daniel Jones is excelling at within this Colt scheme and having one of the more productive years of his career? I think Daniel has done a really nice job and and Shane along with Daniel, they’ve done a nice job of, you know, scheming it up to where the first guy is open a lot for him, right? And he’s able to deliver the ball very quickly. Um, so he’s really taken advantage of that guys being open and I feel like he’s doing a just really good job of just managing the offense. If it’s not there, you know, you don’t see him make a ton of bad decisions, you know, with the football. He’s not turning the ball over a ton. And I think that’s a a huge improvement for him. Um, and he has a really great supporting cast around him. Uh, and he’s they’re all playing well together. They do a really great job on first down. They stay out of third and long. So, they’re they’re managing drives really well. Thank you guys. Happy Thanksgiving. got a clean hat. It’s cleaner. Yeah. Mike from St. John’s High School in Acura says, “What’s up?” Oh. Oh, nice. Yeah, he was a hell of a player for us. Yeah. Um, with the offense and the second half against Buffalo, what were some things that you feel like uh gave it the more difficulty to get things going? What do you hope to do to change that? Yeah, we got to play a lot better, cleaner. Um, had a couple self-inflicted wounds, right, you know, the P and 10 drive. The drive started right out the gate. You know, Chub would have gotten the ball, I think, to minus 40, call it three or four. Went backwards, went backwards multiple times that series and, you know, I just don’t think played as clean as we did overall. Um, you know, and and not good enough. So, got to do a better job there. got to capitalize when we get down in the red zone. What’s some of the difficulties of going up against uh the Colts quarterbacks in Sauce Garden that you Yeah, they’re highly competitive. I mean, they they they’ve got length. They they they’re sticky in coverage. Um you’ve been doing it for a long time. They’re experienced, too. Uh understand how to, you know, how to really defend, you know, leverage and and all those things. And they’re well coached. So, I mean, you know, good outfit overall, for sure. Um Jaden Higgins has been getting involved a lot more in the offense. What have you seen from him that’s allowed you all to trust that you all could go to him a lot more? Same thing we’ve seen from the jump. I mean, he’s coachable. He’s got length. Um he’s got route versatility outside to inside. He’s got a big catch radius. Um he’s got good feel for space and coverage. Um just, you know, he’s got a lot of really good, you know, attributes that you love and and he just keeps getting better and and you know, we’re happy with him for sure. Whenever whenever CJ does return, are there things that he could learn or pick up from what Davis did and was successful within the offense? I think I think just as a team and how we need to play and just in general the things that we all try to learn from every single, you know, we get back on Mondays and look at the things that how can we improve as a team operationally and stuff like that. I think we all have to learn from those things. So, you know, he’s he’s been there every step of the way throughout the process, obviously, from the jump and, you know, he’s a great teammate and, you know, continue to to grow as a unit together, not just one person, but no, I mean, he’s always he’s always learning and growing like we all are and trying to strive to do, excuse me. If he clears concussion protocol, he is able to play, how long is that ramp up period for him to be able to get back going to, you know, playing the way that he was three games? I mean, I don’t you’d have to ask the uh the ramp up in terms of once he’s cleared. I mean, once he’s cleared, you know, I would assume he’s cleared to go and ready to go. So that’s over my my pay grade obviously on from that standpoint, but um once we get the clearance and you know we’re ready to roll, then we’ll be ready to roll. Woody Marks, uh he was one of the better receivers in college that that we’ve seen at the running back position. Do you feel like there’s more of an opportunity to maybe utilize that skill in this offense? Yeah, I mean I think Woody’s got a very, you know, good skill set, terrific hands, um good feel, but absolutely. I mean, I think he’s continuing to grow and, you know, um, you know, I think he’s shown that with some opportunities and I think he’ll continue to grow and we’ll continue to grow with him in the offense. And Nick, can you talk about up front at the O line? You guys have been trying all to find that right mix last week, no turnovers, no sacks. How do you build on that? Do you think you found it or where are you guys in that process? Yeah, I think you know, you build on it by continuing to play and and clean up things collectively, you I mean, still we I was proud of the way we competed. You know, they protected the quarterback. We were able to carve out good yards consistently in the run game. Um, you know, throughout the game. I think that it’s just going to be a matter of, you know, continuing to refine whether it’s footwork, hand placement, finish, leverage, strain, all those things. You know, eliminating memes when they pop up. You know, every group has them, but we continue to do that and refine it and play our best football as the season progresses. That’s what we’re trying to do. So, um, you know, I thought there was some definite steps we took in the right direction and I think there’s plenty of room for growth that we got to continue to move forward with. What are the challenges for an OC when you have a long drive, you score a touchdown, and then on the first play you get an interception, then you have to go call plays? Can that catch you by surprise? And how do you think you handled it when it happened? Yeah, I think I think I think the biggest thing is you try to be ready for every sudden change situation. I mean, we’ve got drive starters, we have, you know, you know, whether it’s, you know, P and 10 situations, whether it’s field zone situations that we plan for. So, you rely on your your preparation or your evolution in terms of some things you have to adjust as the game goes on and you go, you know, I I have confidence in everything that we do and and u you know, felt ready to roll. What do you feel like that particular offensive line combination that you all ran uh last week provided you all? I mean, I I thought toughness. Um, if you just start there in terms of controlling the line of scrimmage, I thought they did a good job of that. I thought we collectively did a good job of that. I think that’s an extension to the tight ends too. Blake when he was in there as well, you know, getting some jumbo reps, Yak and those guys and obviously helps and and the backs were running and setting blocks, too. So, I thought it, you know, helped us control the line of scrimmage and I think, you know, we need to continually do that more and more as we go on. Did the Bills have a different focus defensively than some of the previous teams you guys have played when it came to Nico Collins and and how they approached him and and and playing him? No, I no. I mean, I I think that they the Bills consistently have done what they do. Um they mix coverages. They do a really good job of of keep you know things spinning on you and um no I you know I think they did a good job of trying to mix two shell and stuff like that and and try to give some cloud help and stuff um which we’ve seen throughout the year and um you know but they’ve they’ve been pretty consistent in who they are. They have their identity and you know they’re they’re a well coached defense. At this point, do you this point of the season, do you feel like you um finally gain that that camaraderie and that comfortability as far as your offensive skill players are concerned? Yeah. Yeah, we I mean, we have a good group of guys. Um have fun. I mean, they all, you know, got a bunch of different guys with different skill sets and uh you know, we have a deep, you know, especially deep room at the receiver room. The tight ends, we’re starting to get, you know, getting some guys back there. Backs are playing well, you know, and I think that, you know, that’s a testament to those guys and I think we’re all growing together along the way. um finding what our you know what we do best and trying to continually evolve that as we go here down the stretch. And as that and as you as you do that, as you’re learning them each week, do you have to go in and maybe tweak some of the playbook to to fit their schemes? Oh, sure. I mean, absolutely. We’re always trying to do whether it’s player, you know, personnel driven in terms of putting guys in positions or whether it’s, you know, tailored around things that we’re going to see from a coverage structure, matchup standpoint. I those are always things that we’re trying to do obviously on the front end of the week while we game plan. But absolutely with lots and getting him blocked. Uh what are some of the challenges? We’ve seen him disrupt passes and pick them off and also get up. He’s tenacious. Um he has a motor. He plays hard all the time. He uses his hands. Um you know, I think they’re, you know, they do a really nice job up front. Charlie Parters, their D line coach, does a fantastic job. And I think that, you know, he’s he’s continued to grow and play in a short career for him so far. Young career form rather, I should say, and he’s been playing with his hair on fire, man. Where’s the injury? Did you feel like CJ was playing some of his best football under this system? Yeah, I did. I mean, I think he was he was continuing to find his groove. I thought we had some really good strides that we made there as a as a team and as an offense and um you know, absolutely. Yeah. What are you seeing from Trent Brown? I mean, every week you see him getting more and more football shape or um what he’s able to do. Talk about where he is. Yeah, I mean the more the more he’s playing, the better off, you know, in terms of just your conditioning levels are going to improve. But yeah, Trent’s Trent’s an experienced guy that’s played a lot of football. um you know and and he’s tough and you know he’ll continue to to get better the more that we play and and we’ll just continue to build cohesion there too as well. DJ DJ, what are some of the differences like you know when it comes to quarterback play in terms of how you guys want to attack a bigger longer corners that are more physical at the line of scrimmage versus like a guy like Hetti like they’re saying they do more feet before more feet at the line of scrimmage for using his hands more of a I don’t want to say sauce or aren’t technician per se but they’re they lean more on physicality standpoint. What’s kind of the differences with trying to attack corners that are more physical versus corners that are more technicious? Well, I think there’s a couple different things. I mean, obviously like get, you know, being able, you have to match the level of physicality. You got to play physical. You got to win to the catch point. You got to protect the throws. I mean, you got to have aggressive hands. Like those are all the things that we, you know, we covet. We we challenge our guys too and that they embrace and starts, you know, we do it out here in Indie every single day. Second thing is, I mean, schematically, you know, you want to be able to, you know, create access. There’s ways to do that, too. There’s ways to be able to use stacks, bunches. I mean, everybody in the league, you know, talks about those things and does those things. So, I mean, the biggest thing is you got to go out there and you got to compete and win your one-on-one. That’s, you know, having good route detail, working edges, getting open, winning your leverage, protecting throws, being friendly at the top, you know, went into the catch point and doing all those things, especially in man coverage situations. Think when it comes to the chess match that you have with the opponent, how much you kind of scout the coach kind of knowing like, hey, this guy, I’ve seen some things from him. I’m watching him. uh know that over the years he’s called this, called that, and then how much fun is it to kind of have that cerebral match up? Yeah. No, I mean, you love you love going against this game. I mean, you love to compete. That’s our way and we’re not out on the field, but that’s our way to compete is to to try to, you know, come up with the best plan every single week. And absolutely, like you’re you’re aware of backgrounds, your the lineage of coaches, previous history of guys. We we do an extensive amount of work on uh a bunch of games for each opponent and um and all the situations that we that we can dig up to. Last one. What What kind of goes into developing like you obviously you’ve been preparing for this situation where you’re calling plays for years now. What kind of goes into developing the scheme that you would want to have whenever you finally got the opportunity that you have now? Yeah, I would say first and foremost you have to start with your you have a framework. Okay. Um you know you want to be a physical team up front. You want to start everything up front. You have a framework. And then I think with that framework, how do you want to get your guy your best players involved? What are the strengths of your players? I mean not every team’s the same. Not every player is the same. So, trying to find those guys and have a a broad enough um I would say structure your offense in terms of inventory to be able to fit it to the specific, you know, fundamentals and skill uh of of each of your players. And that’s what we tried to do. We want to be a gap scheme team. We want to be physical. We know that. How can we incorporate our guys that we have to be able to fit the schemes that we want to run and the usage of players that we have and be able to do it from there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good Thanksgiving. Appreciate it.

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