Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN
Opening Statement “I thought it was nice to finally win. It was a very hard fought game. Our defense came out and played extremely well, especially our front seven. To slow down their running game as much as they did, and to be able to run the ball as well as we did, it’s really a compliment to them. They’ve been playing very good run defense through the first three preseason games, and they played very well today. I thought it was nice to get at least our starters through the majority of the preseason fairly healthy. The only person we had a little banged up was [WR] Todd Devoe, so that’s always a good sign. We’ll get a chance in the last preseason game to evaluate some of our second, third and fourth teamers, and hopefully come up with our 53 guys, as well as eight practice squad guys.”
On the Offense “The front seven – they did a great job, but they’ve been doing it all year. From the first game, they haven’t given up a lot of yards rushing. That’s a good sign for [Texans Head Coach] Gary [Kubiak] in Houston, he starts a strong defense and a rushing offense. They’re doing very well on both sides.”
How Important is QB Bradlee Van Pelt’s Performance in Arizona? “It’s not only Bradlee, it’s a lot of players. It’s a large part of the evaluation process that you go through. The third game is obviously occupied by the first two units. Very seldom does a third guy get in unless somebody is injured. There are a number of guys who are on the bubble, and we’re just not really sure at this time. A lot of them, it really depends on the positions they play, but also on special teams as well.”
On WR Darius Watts “I’ve been with Darius for a couple of years and I know what he can do. I’ll get a chance to evaluate some of those younger guys and see what they can do, and we always have that decision whether to keep five or six receivers – that’s part of the evaluation process. I know Darius, but I don’t know a lot of those other guys as well.“
On WR Javon Walker’s Performance Tonight “I’m very impressed. He made a couple of big-time catches in the crowd. He went into the game with more of a drop- back mind set. I don’t think we did any play action with our first unit. We wanted to put more pressure on the quarterback and wide receivers. Javon had a couple catches in the game and I was impressed with some of the plays he made in the game.”
On QB Jake Plummer’s Performance Tonight “I think he did a good job. You know there are always two or three situations that you’d like to have back, but I’m pleased with his effort. It’s always tough when you’re not moving the football, because it’s tough to control the tempo of the game.
What More would you Like to See out of RB Cedric Cobbs “I think Cedric’s been doing an excellent job. Just trying to evaluate him, not only in game situations but in practice. You have to keep in mind that he’s going against the second unit, second, third and fourth team, and that’s part of the evaluation process. Cedric has played very well.”
On the Two-Minute Offense “I wanted to start out the second half with the two minute [offense], and I thought we were pretty impressive going three plays and out [joking]. That was not exactly the way we had it scripted, but we live we that. My mind set was going with the unit for three plays, or the series, and that’s what we did.”
On Overall Performance “You take a look at the positives, you take a look at the negatives. We were running the ball pretty well, but obviously this game we didn’t. I thought there were pluses and minuses, just as there always are in preseason. But here it [the regular season] comes, ready or not. We were very competitive.”
Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS
QB JAKE PLUMMER
General “Well, we moved the ball a little bit. We didn’t run as well as we wanted to. I’m not too worried about that, because we’ll run the ball well this year. We didn’t perform in the red zone.”
Was it Due to Head Coach Gary Kubiak’s Familiarity with the Broncos Offense “It was a guessing match between of the two of them [Shanahan and Kubiak]. We guessed right a few times. It gives us a chance to get ready for our regular season games.”
Pass to WR Javon Walker “We were just talking about the play call. It was a good call, just a matter of me and Javon getting on the same page. As a quarterback, when you’re throwing a quick five-yard out, it can be a little scary. I rushed the throw a little bit and Javon went inside a little too much. We can work it out further down the road, we can make that connection and score a touchdown.”
On Javon Making Great Catches in Traffic “He did – he made some good acrobatic catches, and to finally get him the ball and get him involved in the game. For him, he’s a strong guy and he carried that guy about five or six yards. It’s nice to get him involved when you know [WR] Rod [Smith] is going to be there, and you know Javon will be on the other side, and we’ll see who gets into that third spot.”
QB JAY CUTLER General “I felt good out there. Obviously the starters got to play a lot, so I got to see what they were doing defensively. As a quarterback, you have to know that you’re one play away from getting in there. We had a good game plan coming in. So I was ready. I thought [QB] Jake [Plummer] was ready to go another series. But we had to jump in there.”
On the Houston Defense “They were disguising some stuff defensively, so I had a few pressure situations. But we scored there [4th qtr – 26 yard run]. Then I got that fourth down conversion, and we were able to take a knee. It went about as well as it went the last couple weeks, and I see things happening, I’m starting to anticipate a little bit more.”
On QB Bradlee Van Pelt “Bradlee’s a competitor, he knows the game, he goes out there and he works hard, no matter whether he’s the second or third [quarterback].”
S JOHN LYNCH General “I’m pleased with the way we are playing defensively. Everyone here is just getting better and working toward the first [regular season] game.
“This day in age there are a lot of new players [each year]. We have to come together as a unit and continue to gel.”
CB DARRENT WILLIAMS General “Overall, I think we played really well. I felt I played a pretty complete game. It’s a great feeling going against Pro-Bowlers like [Texans wide receiver] Andre Johnson and [Texans wide receiver] Eric Moulds.”
DE KENARD LANG General “Our main goal as a [defensive] line is to get better and be a main force on the defense. We have to keep improving and carry this over to our first regular season game. We would love to get a “goose egg” (shutout) every time, but it’s still big if you can primarily hold the other team to field goals.”
Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
S NICK FERGUSON General “I think we got out there and executed well. There are some new guys in our system and it takes a little while to get used to everything we do.”
On facing former Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak as a head coach of the Texans “I think everyone played loose. Talk about good scouting—they know what we are capable of doing and we know a lot of the stuff they are trying to do.”
WR JAVON WALKER On first extensive action since injuring his knee in 2004 “I felt really good out there. It was exciting to be running around and making plays. This past year went by really fast. The way I look at it, I took a year off from getting hit, so my body feels really good.
“Once I get a catch, everything coming my way is going to get caught.”
RB CEDRIC COBBS General “I’m just staying humble right now and trying to get into the [running back] mix. This is the third [preseason] game and it’s a very important one. I feel like the coaches believe that I’m someone they can count on.
“I think I play a lot like [Seattle running back] Shaun Alexander. I feel like I’m elusive and I run hard like he does.”
WR ROD SMITH General “That entire team [Houston] has become a mirror image of our organization. You can see those guys are playing better football that they have been in previous years, and I think they will win a lot of games.”
Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
HOUSTON HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK
On His Homecoming “It doesn’t feel too good right now. I think our defense played excellent to keep us in the game with all of our offensive struggles. They (the defense) just did an excellent job. We need to find out how to be a better, cleaner starting team. You have to be ready to move the ball on every snap and we were not.”
On Quarterback David Carr “A lot of the things that happened early in the game were David’s fault. On the interception I think he tried to dump it to Wali Lundy. He (Carr) has to protect the ball. He is in charge of protecting the ball. I think we proved that we can be a pretty good team, without the turnovers.”
On Coach Kubiak’s return to Denver/ Personal Level “It was nice to see a lot of people who were a big part of my life for a long time. But once the football starts, it all goes out the window. We played in a tough environment tonight.”
On Seeing Coach Shanahan “We didn’t say much. I basically just said thanks. We have a lot of respect for one another. We will get a chance to talk more later.”
On LB DeMeco Ryans “He is a quality, quality person and a great football player. To ask a young rookie to be the Mike linebacker in an NFL defense right from the get go has to be a challenge. With him and Mario Williams we should be able to build a pretty good defense around those two guys. We have a lot of young players on the defensive side.”
On WR David Anderson “He is a competitor. Some people say he is not tall enough or fast enough. But when the lights go on, he just competes. He did a heck of a job out there tonight and had a great camp. He is just a football player.”
On QB David Carr’s early struggles “As a coach you have to try to find someway to calm him down with some automatic completions. Those are hard to come by in this league. He did come back and make some very nice plays, but as a coach I need to figure out how to start the game and calm down.”
On Running Game “I think we left some yardage out on the field. We blocked some plays better than we ran them.”
On familiarity with the Broncos “I don’t think I am that familiar with them, considering the way we were moving the ball. They know what they do and they do it dang well. Their personnel is as good as any in the NFL. I told my guys tonight that they won’t play a group any faster or better than Denver. When we play teams like Indianapolis we will see the same speed and Jacksonville we will see the same power.”
Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
HOUSTON TEXAN PLAYERS
QUARTERBACK DAVID CARR
General “We started out really slow and we couldn’t get anything going. We had the tipped ball and the holding penalty early. We kept hurting ourselves on offense. Our defense kept us in the game, they were awesome.”
On His Interception “I was trying to check down to the fullback but the defender got in the way and tipped the ball. Those things are going to happen.”
On Preparing for the Season “We have things everyone has to work on and there are things I have to work on.I felt good with what we did out there tonight.”
On Head Coach Gary Kubiak “He is awesome. The composure he has is great. He talks with me in between plays on the sideline. Those are things you don’t see. He is tough. That was a defensive scheme that has seen this offense everyday in practice.”
RUNNING BACK VERNAND MORENCY
General “The thing is that you are only as good as your running game and we are only as good as we practice. I made a lot of mistakes out there tonight. I want to check it out on film so I can go out and work on that stuff. I left some yard out there. I’m going to correct my mistakes. I’m a professional. I go to practice to fix my mistakes. We started out slow, we have to go out and find our groove. Give credit to their defense. They work hard, especially out here.”
WIDE RECEIVER DAVID ANDERSON
On Playing Professional Football “It is a lot of fun. I have got to expect the best out of myself because everyone in the pros is good. In college there were four or five really good players on every team, but now every player is good.”
On Coming back to Colorado “It is always really good to see guys like Bradlee Van Pelt and Cecil Sapp. Those guys are real clowns and it is good to hang out and have fun before the games. But during the game you have to hate them for a little bit.”
On Making the Team “It is hard and it is the nature of the game but I am out here just trying my best to make the team.”
DEFENSIVE END MARIO WILLIAMS
On His Performance “I started slow, I was out there contributing. Our first drive was something like 18 plays long and I think the air is a little thin here or something. I got my second wind and I got adjusted and comfortable. I was getting off the ball and getting in the face of the quarterback.”
On Being a Professional “I am working how things work. I’m learning how to prepare my body. I need to get my second wind at the beginning of the first quarter. I am using the preseason as a guide. In the middle of the second quarter I was energized and I felt a whole lot more comfortable out there.”
Denver Broncos Post Game Quotes Sunday, August 27, 2006
CORNERBACK LEWIS SANDERS
On Matching Up Against Rod Smith “They went at me three or four times and I did well. I’m just trying to work hard and make plays. I’m going to keep going out there and trying hard at practice to get better. I try to use my size as an advantage. (As a defensive) we haven’t really gotten after (the other team) yet but we are going to be aggressive this season.”
RUNNING BACK WALI LUNDY
General “(The running backs) are going to be a big part of our offensive. I expect a lot of myself so whatever anyone expects of me can’t be as much. Mentally, I just need to be prepared.”
On Learning the Offense “I’m pretty much getting it but there are some tweaks that I am still learning.”
On Broncos Defense “They knew all the plays and all of the audibles. They had an edge. In the end they have to stop the plays and I have to be a playmaker.”