Houston Texans Media Conference

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Houston, Texas, USA

Coach David Culley

Draft Press Conference


Texans 37, Jaguars 21

DAVID CULLEY: First of all, before I get started, I just want you all to know my feet are killing me right now, and my feet are killing me from running up and down that sideline when the offense was on the field, the defense was on the field, special teams was on the field. So many good things were happening, I didn't know which way to go.

But again, my feet are killing me right now, so if we don't stay in here very long, I need to get out of here and get my feet off.

Q. (About the first win being special.)

DAVID CULLEY: Well, I mean, let me just say this: This football team expected to win. We expected to win. We're not surprised simply because we played good football today. I thought at the very end we lost our composure a little bit with some penalties, but this football team expected to win today, and we knew if we did the things we had been practicing, we did the things that are winning football, we'd have a chance to win the game, and we did that today.

Q. (Indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Well, I thought early in the game we were a little off a little bit on some throws early in the game, but he settled down, and he and Brandin ended up making a couple plays basically out of the pocket that ended up allowing us to get some big plays throwing the ball down the field, but again, he's a guy that's not going to make mistakes. He's going to take care of the football.

That's part of who we are. As long as he's doing that and running the offense and us being able to run the ball the way we were able to run the ball tonight, we'll have a chance to do what we need to do.

Q. Not every win and every game is going to be as decisive as today was, but generally what about this game (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, obviously on defense we've always preached about getting turnovers. We got three today. Offense, we all know the big thing is us taking care of the ball. We took care of the ball today. Basically that's our formula. As long as we're attacking that formula, things are going to be all right.

We did that today.

Q. (Indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, I think Tim and that offensive staff going into the game were basically going to do what they allowed us to do, and a lot of times they were putting eight men up in the box, and Tim threw it when we knew we had some one-on-ones. We made some plays there. Then when we had a good box to run, we run. Tyrod had some checks and he ended up putting us in some nice checks to be able to give us a chance to be able to run the ball. And we had some nice runs.

Q. We did see Tyrod's athleticism during the preseason. Watching him as your starting quarterback (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: It's tough when you play mobile quarterbacks in this league. The last thing a defensive coordinator wants with a quarterback is when we've got everybody covered down the field is for him to use his feet to get yardage. Obviously you saw today he did an excellent job of that. I thought a couple of times he came out of there, he got out of some trouble today, which could have also been some trouble for us.

We talked about that, but basically when you've got a guy like that that has that kind of ability to do those things with his feet, you allow him to do that, as long as we don't have any minus yardage plays today. And we were very fortunate that he was able to get out of some things today.

Q. (Indiscernible) how much did it mean to you guys to get up the way you did, maybe from a confidence point of view.

DAVID CULLEY: Well, I think it's very important always from a team standpoint to get off to a fast start. Basically a fast start for us would have been don't turn the ball over, basically on defense, make them go the long way, and basically we did that in the first quarter, so we didn't really have anything negative happen to us to keep us from getting that fast start that we knew we needed to have.

Q. (Question on negative noise.)

DAVID CULLEY: Well, first of all, let me tell you this about the noise. The only noise that matters to this franchise and this team is the noise inside this building and in this room, and that's the only noise that's mattered to us. That's the reason, as I said before, when we went out and played this game today, and if we did things the right way, we'd have a chance to win the game, and we did that today, and we won.

Q. Where is your mind at right now? What are you looking at? (Indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: I'm going to enjoy this for 24 hours, and after those 24 hours we're going to get on to Cleveland.

Q. (Indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Play winning football. Don't turn the ball over. Get turnovers. Be able to run the ball and be able to make plays in the passing game, and we were able to do that today.

Q. Third quarter under duress (indiscernible) who makes great catch. A play like that, what (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: That's players making plays, and this league is about players. It's not about us as coaches. Our job is to put them in position to make plays. Their job is to make plays. Basically they did a really, really nice job of making a play that basically had a lot to do with us keeping our momentum going in that ballgame, and that's what players do. They did a good job of that today.

Q. (Indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Well, that was important because we knew they were going to get the ball coming out, and we needed to be able to sustain our momentum to make sure that they didn't go in at halftime with momentum knowing they were going to get the ball. It was critical and important for us to get that.

Q. (Indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Well, you know, basically the only numbers that matter to us is us not turning the ball over. That number is very important to us. The other number is us getting turnovers and being able to get them off the field in 3rd-and-long type situations. For us, the numbers really doesn't matter unless it's those particular numbers.

Q. Talk about how the offensive (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, I think -- I'm not sure how many yards we had and whatnot and it's not about the yards, but I know that there was over 400 plus yards of offense. They had, I don't know, maybe 170, 180 yards of rushing the ball, whatever it may have been. That's balance. We need to have that. We felt good about that, but the most important thing about our offense today was we did not turn the ball over, we took care of the ball, and we were able to get some points on the board, which as I told Tyrod -- you asked about Tyrod. Tyrod's job is to get us in the end zone and score points, and we did that today.

Q. (Indiscernible.)

DAVID CULLEY: I'm not really sure exactly what it is right now. It could be, but we'll get a little bit more on that tomorrow. We're not really sure exactly.

Q. On this roster how do you feel like (indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Well, for you all that's been around this building and you see some of the signs talking about team, team, team, it's all about the team here. A lot of these guys, 30 plus guys that we have that wasn't here last year on this football team. Basically our mantra has always been, it's about us, and about us doing the right things. When you do the right things in this league no matter who you play, when you go out every time to play in this league, if you do the right things, you'll have a chance to win in this league.

Q. Are you giving the game ball to anybody?

DAVID CULLEY: No, the Texans got the game ball today.

Q. How did you feel about between your running backs (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, it was very good. Danny did a nice job of rotating those guys in there. And basically Tim and that offensive staff, we have personnel groups for each guy, so basically when you see them going in and out, they're basically going in and out because certain guys in certain positions within certain personnel groups. We were able today because we were able to stay on the field to be able to use all those guys and use all of our personnel groups, and that's a sign of consistency on offense.

Q. When you're playing with a lead (indiscernible).

DAVID CULLEY: Well, basically we never look at it as when we're playing with a lead. We looked at it as this is how we wanted to play the game at that point, whether we were up or down, and basically Tim and the offensive staff just kind of said, okay, this is how we're going to play it, and if he wants this particular group in, it'll be that particular group in. Sometimes it's Mark for three, sometimes it's David, all those guys are all getting their snaps and their carries.

Q. The first pass was almost picked off (indiscernible)?

DAVID CULLEY: Well, we talk about getting off to a fast start, and basically what ended up happening on that, he was a little late getting the ball out. That play, you mentioned that, that play could have been a game changer had it been intercepted. But it was one of those deals where the kind of guy that he is, the kind of leader he is is that those things don't bother him. He just comes back and next play I didn't get the ball out, he comes back, he actually came back and missed another one later on that we had in that series, but there was no big deal. He's always the next play, always the next play, and that's why we had a chance to win the game today is because he did what his job is to do is to get us in the end zone.

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112365-1-1002 2021-09-12 21:34:00 GMT

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