Colts 26, Texans 20
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Philip.
Q. A report this morning made your toe injury sound pretty significant. How bad is your toe? How difficult is it to play?
PHILIP RIVERS: Yeah, I mean, rather than getting into the details of everything, shoot, I'm just working each week, finding a way to be out there. I don't feel any limitations as far as what I can do out there. It's just a matter of managing it week-to-week at this point.
Q. On the last minute and a half or so, how much are you balancing preparing for the next possession and watching the defense? What was your reaction when that ball is on the ground?
PHILIP RIVERS: Yeah, obviously always belief in the defense that they were going to get a stop. Certainly offensively we were talking about finding a way to go kick the game-winning field goal, let's get ourselves in position. Frank was calling timeouts there. We were going to have a minute left, depending on what happened, to go get three points.
That's where our mindset was. Obviously all the time I'm pulling for our D. That ball got on the ground, obviously you find a way to get on it, our defense did.
That's the way it goes sometimes. Been on the other end of those crazy endings. A good team win. Obviously different times in the game when we could have put it away and didn't. But we found a way. Never apologize for those, finding a way to win a tough division road game.
Q. You talked earlier in the season about finding different ways to win, how that will help you down the line. What did today teach you about this team that maybe you didn't know before the game?
PHILIP RIVERS: Well, I just thought we had a great week as a whole. We came off a tough game obviously. A lot of hype built around last week's game. We didn't get it done.
We truly came in, had the Monday and Tuesday mandatory, couldn't come in the building, but started our weekly prep. We truly began a new week. The guys were awesome. Energy in practice all week was great. The mindset was great. I thought the swagger was still there. To believe that we were the same guys that took the field a couple hours before the Tennessee game.
That's the way I thought we came out today. Offensively we were rolling pretty good in the first half. Obviously defense came up with a big turnover, a big safety, the big turnover at the end to win the game. Special teams had some huge plays before getting called back.
I don't know. I mean, I think we found out we can win any way. We can win any way. We found plenty of ways to win. We're going to hang in there and stick together no matter what.
Q. Did you know about T.Y. Hilton's history in Houston? How big was it for him to have this type of game going forward?
PHILIP RIVERS: Yeah, I feel like we've said it all year long, it's just a matter of time till he really gets rolling. I felt like he's been a big part of this thing the whole way through. I know it's not the same statistics that we're used to seeing him have that he's having.
He had a huge day. I kind of thought it was about to be a 200-yard day the way the first half was. Heck of a day he had.
Q. Are you calling T.Y. the mayor of Houston now? What was clicking not just today but the last two weeks with you two?
PHILIP RIVERS: I certainly was not a part of or heard about his type of farces he's had here at this stadium. Got off early. Caught the first pass of the game, gets a touchdown in the first drive. Just kept it rolling.
Obviously we would have loved to get a few more balls to him in the second half. We weren't as good executing in that second half, although we did get the run game going, which is big. Certainly not scoring any points offensively isn't up to our standard in the second half.
All in all we found a way to win, but we certainly don't walk away feeling like we played perfect. Regroup and head out to Vegas to play the Raiders here next week.
Q. Why was it so important today to get T.Y. involved early in the game? When he's involved early, how much does that open up the rest of the offense?
PHILIP RIVERS: Yeah, well, I mean, I think we usually try to do that. Games early in the year, I feel like Jacksonville we were trying to get him the first touch of the game, going back to the Jets, Cincinnati, Minnesota. We love to get him going early. Sometimes it just hasn't come up the way we hoped.
Certainly, as we've said, he's been a factor. Even when he's not getting the ball, there's times... He made some unbelievable catches today. The catch to start the game was a heck of a catch. He had a five-yard under-route that he ran that was a huge catch.
The third down catch, his ability to get his feet down on that third down, it was huge. You look back at those plays, you don't realize how big they are until you look back at the whole game and see how huge that was. It was a heck of a day by him.
Good to get him back going, get his hands on it again. It's a week-to-week deal, a 17-week drive, hope to get a bonus week. We're in the midst of it. I know it's boring for you guys, but just continue to keep it one game at a time.
Q. I know a win feels good, but did it feel better when you came off the field and saw what happened in Tennessee today knowing you're positioned to come back in the South?
PHILIP RIVERS: Yeah, I mean, we're right there in the hunt. There's four games to play. We're tied up record-wise. Obviously they hold the tiebreaker based on the division record at this point.
But a lot of crazy things that have happened in this league over the years. I was part of a team that was 4-8 one time. The Denver Broncos were 8-4. We won out, they lost out. We played them in week 17 to win the division.
This league is crazy. It is fine as a fan loving the game. To say that I don't know what's going on out there would be a lie. But we truly can't worry about that. We can't worry about what the Titans do or what anybody else does. We got to learn from this game, be excited about this win. Any division road win is big. Then we put all our attention on the Oakland -- Vegas Raiders and find a way to go 1-0 this week, not get caught up in what could happen over the next four weeks because who knows, who knows what's going to happen. We just got to control what we can control.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports