Houston Texans Media Conference

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Houston, Texas, USA

David Culley

Press Conference


DAVID CULLEY: Good. My glasses didn't fog up this morning. I know it's hot, but not where it has been.

Q. How is Bradley Roby doing?

DAVID CULLEY: He's been on the COVID list, and he's doing fine. He hasn't had really any serious, serious symptoms, but he's had -- basically, it affects guys differently. He's been doing fine. Hopefully, we'll see how he's doing each day. It's day-to-day with him.

Q. How about Akins?

DAVID CULLEY: Akins, same thing. He's coming along pretty well with it. We're not sure how long it's going to be before he's back in the action again, but he's doing good right now.

Q. Do you expect them to be back next week?

DAVID CULLEY: I'm not really sure at this point. It's a little early. We expect him to be, but we'll see.

Q. Talk about Max Scharping. He's going home to Green Bay. You've been playing him at both guards?

DAVID CULLEY: You know what, Max is excited. He's had a good camp to this point. He's been doing excellent with what we've asked him to do. Again, it's preseason, but he's going back. That's always exciting for them. Again, John, we're in that mode right now where we're trying to find out what the best combination for us is, and he's part of that deal right now. He's been doing well for us to this point.

Q. This is the last time we're going to talk to you before a game. Can you give us some indication of how you're going to rotate your players?

DAVID CULLEY: We're going to discuss that after practice today.

Q. Do you think that Tyrod needs to play all three preseason games?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, we'll see. We're not really sure yet how we're going to do that. We're going to talk about that today and kind of take it one week at a time as to see what we need to do in that situation.

Q. They changed preseason from four to three games this season. Do you change anything as far as how you do things?

DAVID CULLEY: Not really. The thing that will happen is because we will end up having that extra week that normally would be a preseason game, that week is still there. So instead of playing a preseason game, we'll be practising against ourselves, which gives us the time to really do the same things that you would do if you were playing four preseason games, except you'll be doing it against yourself.

Q. Would you treat that second game more as teams used to treat the third one, in terms of how much the starters play?

DAVID CULLEY: We're not really sure how we're going to do that. Again, we're going to make that decision going from week to week, but not having the fourth preseason game, we've got to decide which one we feel like would be best for us in the situation we're in to use that game as a rehearsal for going into the season.

Q. You mentioned a couple of days ago, it's like the first time you left the field, seeing what you want to see? Have you seen that recently? What's been the feeling of consistency?

DAVID CULLEY: This week, this will be the third day that I feel like that, from a consistency standpoint, from the whole total team, that I see us getting better. I mean, we're getting better, and I say that -- and we're not where we need to be, but what I'm seeing is I'm seeing less and less mistakes. It's not the repeat mistakes we've been having. It's not the same guys making those mistakes, and that's important. What that tells me is they're getting better and the message is getting across.

Q. A lot of coaches just want to win your first preseason game so players get a positive message. Is that important?

DAVID CULLEY: What's important more than that for us is the evaluation process. Now, they do keep score, and whoever's in there at the end want to win the ball game, and we feel the same way about that, but the most important thing right now for us is the evaluation process and getting our players in to be able to see and see where we are and what we need to do to go further.

Q. What have you seen from Justin McCray, who used to play for the Packers?

DAVID CULLEY: He's been a multi-guy for us also, moving around all over positions. He's actually one of those guys that could probably at some point play any of those positions on the front, and he's been valuable to that point. He's been around for a little while. It's very good for us to have him, to have that versatility in our offensive line.

Q. (Inaudible question)?

DAVID CULLEY: As a coach, I'd prefer as many games as we could to get prepared.

Q. The defense has done a great job creating turnovers during camp, but on the flip side, are you a little bit concerned about your quarterback's ability to take care of the ball?

DAVID CULLEY: No, and I say that simply because those guys on defense get paid too just like those guys on offense do. A part of it has been those guys are making plays. It hasn't been because we've made a bad throw. A lot of those have been because they've made good plays, and that's encouraging to see, and that's always a positive when you see that happening.

Q. You guys have had guys go on and off the COVID reserve list. When you're trying to figure out who plays and who doesn't, how does that complicate things?

DAVID CULLEY: Listen, when we wake up every day and we go on the field, the guys that are there to be able to play, we play with them. We practice with them, and we just take it day to day, and we just go with the guys that are out there.

Q. Is there a guy on either side of the ball that's maybe come out and surprised you guys, like a wow factor that you didn't expect?

DAVID CULLEY: No, I just think for the most part it's been a situation where, because of the competition, those guys come out every day. There are some days where a guy will make a splash play, and you say wow, but the point is our goal is always to become consistent in what we're doing, and guys are getting to that point where they're finding out that's the most important thing.

I've seen guys out there make splash plays that had three mistakes prior to that flash play that they made, and that's not where we want to be. We want to be consistent. If you make that play and you make that play having done what you're supposed to do, then that's the goal we have for moving forward.

Q. What are your options at center beyond Justin Britt?

DAVID CULLEY: Like I said, we're going all across the board with those guys trying to find that position. That's always important right there to do that. The depth is there. That's why we do what we do in moving them across the line, and we're continuing to do that. The depth has been good.

Q. Up to this point, what have you seen from Nico Collins?

DAVID CULLEY: He's getting better and better each day. Again, you see he's getting a lot of reps. He's been getting a lot of opportunities to make plays. He's been making some. Some he hasn't been making, but he's improving each day, and he just needs to continue to do that and learn what we're doing. He's getting better at doing that.

Q. What do you think of Vernon Hargreaves getting that interception?

DAVID CULLEY: What I think of it? I'm glad he got it. It was the Texans getting it although we were on offense throwing that play to him, but I was glad to see that happen. Because of the situation at that point, we're at the end of the game. It was one of those situations where it stopped a drive.

And going back to the question you asked earlier about when you see interceptions and those kinds of things, that was a situation where, look, we either have a touchdown or the game's over, and the guy made a play.

Q. I know it's your first preseason game, but in the back of your mind, when you're thinking about what you're going to have to say to some of these young men at the end of training camp, does it have an effect?

DAVID CULLEY: No, they all know what this is all about. Everybody that comes into this situation know exactly what this is all about. The thing about that is we know we can't keep everybody on this team, but just because you don't make this team doesn't mean there's not an opportunity somewhere else for you to make it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
111369-1-1182 2021-08-12 16:47:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129