Houston Texans Media Conference

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Houston, Texas, USA

Chris Conley

Postgame Press Conference


Texans - 41, Chargers - 29

Q. What did you see from the game that Rex has had today? Just the run game you guys have been trying to have all season and the way he played today?

CHRIS CONLEY: Rex is a phenomenal back. What I saw today is what I've known all season is that Rex still has it. He never lost it. Just needed to get him healthy. Getting that man the ball, he runs with reckless abandonment. He does it every time he touches the rock. It makes it real easy to block for a guy like that who is going to fight and scrap for every yard.

Q. The win here, Justin Reid just said it's one of his favorite he's been a part of. The feeling you guys have after this how important is it in the overview of what you guys are trying to build here?

CHRIS CONLEY: I think one of the things that this team has really needed to do is learn what it means to play a 60-minute football game and win. Today we had a lot of young guys up. And when you have a lot of young guys up they can go one of two ways. But I think one of the things Justin said was that a lot of guys are bought in.

And today you saw examples of that -- guys going out there, even if there was a drive that wasn't that good, even if there were plays that were messed up, and locking back in and doing what was necessary on the next drive to win.

Q. On that final scoring drive at the end of the first half those two big chunk plays by you guys, including your touchdown catch, what did you see from them defensively that led you guys rip off some of those plays?

CHRIS CONLEY: They have, in the secondary, a lot of confidence. Sometimes corners will play at depth and they'll slow back pedal and dare you to throw the ball over their held. That's the way they played it. That's how they played a lot of things this year, sitting flat-footed to break up on the ball.

But really in that instance Davis was able to recognize the coverage and put it up. It's not a play that was scripted to go deep, but he took a chance right there. And I think that message like was seen throughout today. A lot of guys just trusting each other to go out there and make plays and it paid off.

Q. Can you give us a play-by-play of the catch and what you saw from the time you got off the line of scrimmage, and how you thought Davis played today, especially having this kind of running game?

CHRIS CONLEY: The play, we were in our two-minute package, and we were on the ball. Really the concept of that play to the front side is you have a go route on the outside to really clear things out for the tight end on the inside who is running about a ten-yard out. But, like I said, the film study this week, we knew they liked to slow play it on the outside. If we wanted to take a shot we could take a shot.

And Davis recognized that. He recognized they were slow-playing it and the corner wasn't really getting out. And he gave me a shot. And on a play that wasn't necessarily called that way, we were able to make a big play for six.

But on that note. Davis played exceptionally well today. He's been taking coaching really well. He's gone and he's continued to work at things and he's not let setbacks really deter him or change his mind about how he's going to play. He's gone out and played aggressive. And that's what we asked him to do is just keep taking coaching and get better and he's been doing that.

Q. Can you put in words what it means to you and your teammates to come away with a victory that nobody outside the locker room thought you guys were even close to being capable of doing?

CHRIS CONLEY: Any given Sunday. Any given Sunday. It's about who goes out there and who plays the best on that day -- not who is the better team. If you look at it on paper I'm pretty sure everyone can say there's a bunch of teams that are better than us.

But I've been here and a lot of other places you're counted out it's who plays better on Sunday. You really have to shut out the noise. And you just really have to believe in each other. Believe in each other and in the same way that you believe in each other you can inspire others by making plays. You make one play and everyone can just feed off of that and just keep going and roll.

Q. Do you think Davis is making a statement now, not trying to make a statement but making a statement about who he is and what he is as a quarterback?

CHRIS CONLEY: I think every time that you step on the field and you put something on tape you're making a statement. And that's the message that we were trying to instill in all of us, and especially having a young team that was out there on the field today.

Letting them know that hey opportunities they don't come often. But everything that you do with that opportunity says something about who you are, continue to build on it.

Q. You guys have now won four games just as many as they've won last year. This is David Culley's first year as a head coach at the elite level. What do you see from Davis in terms of keeping you guys going in the final four of the season I know you're not headed to the playoffs or anything like but the team still plays hard and pulls off a win here today?

CHRIS CONLEY: The coach has had a consistent message throughout the year that when we play clean football and we play good football we always have a shot to win. Now, it's been a process of getting us to that point. But the consistency was necessary. The energy that Coach Culley brings was necessary. And he's really gotten us to a point where a lot of guys who haven't been here that long can come in here and buy in and we can go out and do what we did today. So kudos to him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
115639-1-1045 2021-12-26 22:19:00 GMT

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