HOUSTON TEXANS vs. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS

Transcription

1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunday, December 18, 2016 POSTGAME QUOTES FROM HOUSTON TEXANS Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert C. McNair Head Coach Bill O Brien CB A.J. Bouye T Duane Brown DE Jadeveon Clowney S Quintin Demps WR DeAndre Hopkins ILB Benardrick McKinney RB Lamar Miller QB Brock Osweiler QB Tom Savage FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ROBERT C. McNAIR (Transcribed by Allie LeClair) What do you think about this game? Well, we never got the lead until the end of the game. What a hard-fought game. Our guys just never eased up. They just kept playing hard. I m just really proud of the effort. What do you think about the change at quarterback and how it played out? Well, Tom (Savage) played very well. He got things going for us. That was a decision Coach (Bill O Brien) made and he s going to do what he thinks is best for the team. He will be visiting with the quarterbacks and working with them deciding what we will be doing going forward. That s his call. With Tennessee and Indianapolis all winning today, how do you look at the rest of the season? That s the way it s been. We need to win out. We have two more games and we need to win both of them. They will be tough and they will be close and everyone will be scraping and digging and clawing and biting and anything they can do. We just need to keep fighting the way we did today. I was really proud. Our defense held them to 150 yards. That was something. What can you say about DE Jadeveon Clowney s efforts? He s been playing extremely hard even before these last couple of weeks. It s just that he was very disruptive in ways that you didn t see. Now, he s doing things that are pretty spectacular. Is this win one of your more amazing wins after the different circumstances of this game? Yeah, you are dealing with a lot of things you don t normally deal with. The team handled it well. Everybody s excited. (Jadeveon) Clowney just played his heart out. Everybody did, but you just see what kind of talent he s got. He s just tremendous. How difficult is the situation of changing quarterbacks? I m just glad I wasn t the one that had to make that decision. I mean, that was a gutsy call. Give Coach (Bill O Brien) credit. He made a change and it was for the good of the team. We benefited from it. Now we have three good quarterbacks and we are proud of all of them. HEAD COACH BILL O BRIEN (Transcribed by Hannah Pietsch) Can you talk about your decision to change quarterbacks and how you think QB Tom Savage played? I think you ve been around me long enough to know that I just try to make decisions in the best interest of the team. Any decision that we make here is always made in the best interest of the team. At that point in time, I just felt like that was the best decision, at that point in time, for the team. I think we ve got three really talented quarterbacks here. I really do. You can call BS on that, you can say whatever you want. I think we have a really talented

2 quarterback room, and we don t make decisions on how much a guy gets paid. We make decisions on what s the best way to win a game. That was the decision we made today, and I thought today, it worked out ok. What did you like about how QB Tom Savage played coming in under tough circumstances? He completed passes. He took care of the ball. I thought he was decent at getting us in and out of the huddle. I think that needs to speed up overall, but overall I thought he managed the game pretty well. Will QB Tom Savage start for you next week? Again, we re always going to make decisions in the best interest of the team. We ll regroup here tonight. We ve got a short week. And we ll make decisions on anybody, any starter that we have. We make decisions on that every week. We run a very competitive program, no matter what people on the outside see, or think, or whatever. We run a very competitive program here, and we try to compete on the practice field and reward guys that earn it on the practice field. That s what we ll continue to do here. Had you come close to benching QB Brock Osweiler earlier in the season or was this the situation with two picks when you said that s enough? I felt like today that was a decision that was in the best interest of the 45-plus, 46 guys on the sideline. I felt like that was the best decision for the team. DE Jadeveon Clowney had a big game today, and you said earlier this week that you need games from him like this. He had a good game. He s played very well this season. He plays the game very hard. He plays at a fast pace. He s a very physical football player. I heard him say in an interview after practice one of the days this week, I m a good football player. And, you know what, he s damn right about that. He s a hell of a football player, especially on Sundays. He s done a good job for us this year, and he did a nice job today. At the end of the game, RB Lamar Miller limped off. I know you said he s dealing with all sorts of injuries. What s the latest on him? I don t know just coming in here right off the game field, I m not sure. Just knowing Lamar, if Lamar can go, he s going to go. Like I ve always said about Lamar, he s a pro s pro. He understands how important he is to our football team, and he s going to do whatever it takes during the week to try to go, unless it s a broken bone or something where he couldn t go. I think he ll do everything he can to be able to go against Cincinnati. You said you make the best decision for the team. What do you look for, how do you decide what that best decision is in terms of the starting quarterback? I think that s just something that only a head coach can explain or feel. I don t really know what to say to you on that. I just felt like that was the best decision for the team. As a head coach, what are you looking for this week? You ve been watching these guys all year. As you get ready for another very important game, what is that thing you are looking for? I don t know. Your guys were down 13-0 at home against a 2-11 Jacksonville team. You made the decision, and you all were able to turn it on with QB Tom Savage. What did you see in the team? More intensity, WR DeAndre Hopkins got involved, the defense played great all game. I never think it s about one person. It s not about one person. I thought our defense was playing well the whole game. I thought obviously we put them in a hole there a little bit. And a couple of those times, they came up real big for us forced field goals. And I just felt like we had to get something going on offense. We weren t going to win this game obviously by scoring 13 points again. The quarterback position is the most difficult position to play in sports, in my opinion. Obviously, that s a very biased opinion. We feel like we have really good quarterbacks in there that prepare, that work hard, and sometimes, just like I was trying to say earlier, you have a feeling about it and just feel that s the best decision for the team. I thought both guys Brock (Osweiler) and Tom handled it like the professionals that they are. Very professional the way they handled it, and we ll see what happens next week. What about the protection that QB Tom Savage got? I think the line has gotten better and better with their pass pro all year. Some of it s blitzing, it s not all line. Sometimes it has a lot to do with the backs. I thought the backs did a nice job today for the most part. I thought

3 early on there was some pressure with both quarterbacks, with Brock (Osweiler) and with Tom. I thought overall, Tom played most of the game, and I felt like he had enough time to throw. You guys decided to go for it on the fourth and goal with QB Tom Savage and threw that fade pass to WR DeAndre Hopkins. That was a terrible play call. That was my fault. Should have run the football, and not thrown a fade down there. That was a horrendous play call. Earlier, you mentioned a pro s pro. What about K Nick Novak? He was limping around what did he have a groin injury? His back was tightened up on him. I went over to him on the sideline during the game. I ve known Nick for a long time. Nick was a kicker at Maryland when I was at Georgia Tech. Nick s a tough guy. He s an older player, so he deals with some things that younger players don t deal with. I asked him, Are you going to be able to kick? You re our only kicker. He said, I ll be able to make the kicks. So I trust him on that, because he s knows his own deal. He did a nice job, came through big for us. You haven t seen QB Tom Savage on the field since briefly your first year. When you sent him in, what did you realistically hope that he could do? He s been around. Our practices are very competitive. I know they re not like games. It s impossible to simulate a game exactly on the practice field, but we do a lot of things against each other, ones versus ones. There s a lot of speed work out there. At training camp, he s had a lot of training camp reps. He s had a lot of preseason game reps. That s the nature of the deal, when you re a backup quarterback in this league, and you re given an opportunity, and you re given your second opportunity including the first one that he was given, you d better take advantage of your second one, and I thought he did a decent job of doing that today. Can you talk about the play of your tight ends? Our tight ends have come up big for us this year. Ryan Griffin had some big catches today. Stephen Anderson played well today, I thought. C.J. (Fiedorowicz) was not in there today. I expect him back next week, and he s had a good year for us. It s been really good. The tight end position, for us, is something we take a lot of pride in, and those guys take a lot of pride in. We feel like we have three really good, younger tight ends that have made a lot of plays for us this year. You bounced between quarterbacks in your first two years here. As a coach, are you reluctant to get into this back-and-forth again? I think we re just trying to win games. I can t control there are a lot of things that are not in my control. One of the things I can control is trying to make the best decisions as far as who plays, who plays on Sundays and make the best decision for the team. I do the best job I can. It s not always perfect. In fact, nobody around here makes more mistakes than I do, but I try to always think about the team and how is that going to help us win. How much better do you feel about QB Tom Savage now that you ve seen him play like that in a game? I ve always felt good about Tom. Look, I ve always felt good about Brock (Osweiler). I feel good about Brandon Weeden. We ve won games with all three of these guys. I feel really good. I think they re all three really good professionals. We really enjoy coaching them, they re very bright guys. There s never been a time when I haven t felt good about any of them. Just, the fact is, look, it s a tough position to play and sometimes the best decision is to make a move there and hopefully it helps the team. Today, it did. Today it did. That s not always the case but today it was. What do you think about this tight AFC South race? Well, I think it s a good division. I think Coach (Mike) Mularkey s done a great job there. Jon Robinson s a great friend of mine. Those guys, they have an identity. They re doing a great job, but I know the most important thing for us, the most important thing for us is Cincinnati here on Saturday night. We ve got a short week, it s going to be a very tough game, Cincinnati s got a ton of talent. I m glad it s at home. That s the only thing I m probably glad about. I think they re got a really good football team I don t care what their record is. So, that s our whole focus, is getting ready for Cincinnati. We start tomorrow on it. CB A.J. BOUYE (Transcribed by Julien Demers)

4 Another outstanding defensive effort by the guys after a slow offensive effort, but you guys were able to stem the bleeding and keep the team in the game. Just talk about the defensive performance today. We just kept fighting. One thing that Coach (O Brien) told us was that we were going to face adversity and that s what happened today. It s a tough game, and one thing Jacksonville was trying to do was play behind their defense, and they have a great defense, but we felt that we were better. That s the mentality that we always have, so we re just going to keep competing. Can you describe your feeling on that last play where you guys get the interception? It was very good. Big time players make big time plays in big time games, and that s what (Quintin) Demps did. He s been balling all year and just to see that happen, we fought all 60 minutes and that shows you about our defense. There were a lot of players that came in and did what they were supposed to do, including (Jadeveon) Clowney. He was just a presence today, and it was just crazy. How much do you notice what he s doing up front? He works hard. A lot of people might say something outside of our team, but he s mentally tough and doesn t let it get to him. In my opinion, he s the best player on the defense and he shows that week in and week out. Y all don t know how hurt he is and how much he sacrifices for our team, so in this locker room we have a lot of respect for him. Bottom line, you re still in first place in your division. You control your own destiny. Yeah, next game against the Bengals is going to be a really great game. They have a great team and we re going to have to bring our A-game again. Just keep competing, and then we have Tennessee after that, and we see what they re doing. They re not easy; it was a close game when they came here. It s going to be away but next game is Bengals. T DUANE BROWN (Transcribed by Julien Demers) Were you surprised at the decision to change quarterbacks? Yeah, they made a decision they thought was best for the team. As a left tackle, my job is to protect whoever is under center and support whoever is under there. Support both of those guys to the fullest, and I thought Tom (Savage) did a great job coming in. As a backup quarterback, you always preparing to be the starter. He came in and did a great job. Guided us to a win. Why do you think the offense was able to have more success once he got in there? I can t answer that. From an offensive line perspective, we didn t have the best day running the ball, but I thought we did a decent job in protection. As the game went on, they got us with some things early on, but we settled down and got in sync. Guys did a good job of getting open in the passing game, and he found them. Some penalties there, holding calls, pass interference that got us moving down the field. We were able to score when it counted. As an offensive line, can you know the ebb and flow of this game, trying to get into a rhythm, and then you change of quarterback, does that really affect your chemistry? Yeah, it doesn t affect us one bit. You get used to his cadence, that s about the only thing that you got to watch out for and look for. Other than that, we had the same blocking schemes, the same pass protections, we re trying to pass all blitzes as the same, the line stunts the same. Nothing that we as an offensive line have to adjust much really. What is it about the Texans and Jaguars that keeps it interesting until the end? I don t think it s just us. They re 2-12, but you look at their games and they don t have many blowouts. They found ways to play tough every team no matter who they re playing. We were down the majority of the game, just the resiliency of this group, both teams are resilient. Both teams were fighting until the end. We just made a couple more plays than they did and came out on top. DE JADEVEON CLOWNEY (Transcribed by Stephanie Weaver & Brianna Cantu) How much did playing from a linebacker spot help you today?

5 I ve been doing that all season. We ve been mixing it up, trying to isolate one-on-one with the inside guys and outside guys. Just a great game planned by the coaches. How good are you feeling out there and do you think this is one of your best games? I m feeling great. I m just trying to fit in where I fit on the defense. Coaches are dialing it up. Just trying to go out there and make as many plays as possible. I don t know if it was one of my best, best games, but it was probably up there. What s it like to put back-to-back games together like you did the last two? It s a great feeling. We come in. Have a good game plan every week. We go out there and try to execute. We did that two weeks in a row for these last two weeks, and I m going to try to continue to do that. What does it mean to you to have a career high in sack and be on a team that is on its way to the playoffs if you take care of business? Career high sacks I need to get more than what I ve got. It s a great feeling. In the right direction. I m feeling good and playing at a high level right now. I hope I can continue to keep that up. I hope we can continue to make a run toward the playoffs. We ve got a good team right now. We continue to fight every week and battle back so we hope to continue to do that. What was critical defensively to maintain the confidence you played with during the course of the game when you got behind 20-8 in the third quarter? None of us panicked. I don t think nobody hit the panic button on our sideline. Defense, we already knew what we had to do. Go out there and keep making stops and try to create turnovers for the offense. We had allowed them to get threes and out, and they come out there and pitch and draw us, and we were able to get some points on them and kept playing defense. How was your production today possible without guys like LB Whitney Mercilus and LB John Simons? Our guys came in and did the same jobs, you know. They came in and finished, came after the quarterback rushing hard, and we have a lot of great other guys who make plays. We got guys who go down and step up between plays to try and help you out too. It s obviously been a struggle your first two seasons staying healthy, this season you have for the most part, especially the last two games. This might be cliché, but do you feel like people are seeing the real Jadeveon Clowney? No. Like you said, I ve been trying to stay healthy, keep fighting. In this team I got my guys who got my back, and we go out there and fight. We don t worry about the outside noise. We worry about what s in the locker room and continue to fight every week. Can you take us through the play when you knocked the ball down near the goal line and what you saw? I m just rushing off the edge, and I was trying really to keep my eyes on the quarterback. I was thinking it was going to be a screen but instead it was backed up but here I was trying to get my hands on the ball, and got a good jump on it. S QUINTIN DEMPS (Transcribed by Brianna Cantu) What do you think on the way you all did? Well you know, we knew it was going to be a tough battle so coming down to the fourth quarter because it s a division game. And you know, you got to credit the front seven man. (Jadeveon) Clowney played his butt off, you know. I think he and Ufomba (Kamalu). Young guy is playing good. So we got to credit them for sure. What do you think about the offense despite the changes? Yeah, they play good ball. We re focused on our side of the ball no matter what happens cause at the end of the day we got to play defense no matter what s going on. So, we trust the coaches and it is what it is. I m sure you heard, Tennessee came back and won. Yeah, that s a bummer. Chiefs let us down but you know, it is what it is man. We have to focus on Cincinnati, you know, short week. Enjoy the day, come in tomorrow and press forward.

6 WR DEANDRE HOPKINS (Transcribed by Julien Demers) Big time comeback win. Offense found some life late, but you re still in the hunt for the division crown. Just talk about the performance today. We got behind early. This is a resilient football team. When the guy ran the kick return back, the offense and defense, nobody sweat it. We came on the sideline and we knew what we had in front of us. We came out and got the job done. Got to give your hat out to Tom (Savage) coming in there composed and leading this team to victory. Opportunity seemed to come your way more often in the right places for you to make plays with QB Tom Savage in there. Just talk about the difference he brings to the team and that spark that seemed to emanate from him in the second half once the change was made. I m not going to speak too much on that. Tom (Savage) has been in this offense for three years, so he knows the offense as good as anybody. What surprised you about what QB Tom Savage did today? He s an NFL quarterback. That s his job to come in and be ready. Did you see him QB Tom Savage improving as the game went on since he hadn t played in a while? He s an NFL quarterback. His job his to come in and lead us to victory. Can you talk about the defense s performance? Defense did a good job. (Jadeveon) Clowney, Rob Nelson for a guy that hadn t played a lot of football, came out and made some plays out there. There s a lot you can play about that defense. They made plays when we needed it. Talk about the growing rivalry between you and CB Jalen Ramsey. You got the best of him down in Jacksonville and it seems like he gives you his best effort and you give it back to him. Of course, two ACC guys going at it, it s a little bit of a rivalry. Even though we didn t get to play against each other, I love everything the guy does. He s confident in his game. He wants to be on an island by himself. I respect corners like that more than any other corners. They want to be out there matched up against the best. ILB BENARDRICK MCKINNEY (Transcribed by Adam Rauch) Did you expect the game to turn the way it did? We re just taking it day-by-day, just flying to the ball, doing our job, just trying to execute at the highest level. Is there a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with shutting out Jacksonville after their kickoff return TD? I mean, you have to give praise to the players. We fought it out, we finished. Coach preached it the whole week, we have to finish. Do you have any thoughts on what the offense was able to do down the stretch? I can t really say too much about the offense, they did an incredible job getting the score and, defensivee-wise, we did our job and tried to hold them to 20 points and we did. You had that shoestring sack, can you talk about that play? It was a great play for us. Getting off the field on third down, our defense wants to do that. How tough was it to adjust to all the missing personnel on the defensive side? We have a lot of great players, so it really wasn t too tough. John (Simon) and Whit (Whitney Mercilus) are great, pass rushers, they can stop the run, but we had a lot of guys come in, step in and they did their job. How do you think the defense played today? We just did our job and we finished. Like I said, we finished, we take it play-by-play. I was telling the guys every play, let s just finish and we did that.

7 RB LAMAR MILLER (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) What was it like to score a touchdown in such a big moment? We just needed one yard. The offensive line did a great job of just getting their guy in the end zone and I was just trying to be decisive and tried to make a play for this team. What was this game like overall? We started off slow but I think in the second half we picked it up. The defense was doing a good job of holding them. ON the offensive side of the ball, we just try to do anything to move the ball and keep the chain moving. How s it feel to control the AFC South with just two games left? It s very important. We have to finish strong. We have two more. We just have to take it one game at a time. Every game from here on out is the playoffs to us, so we just have to do a great job of coming in, watch film and make corrections. We have a short week this week so we just have to put this behind us and move forward. What did you think of the job QB Tom Savage did? I think he did a good job. He kept us moving down the field. I think he just took advantage of his opportunity. What was QB Tom Savage like in the huddle after coming in in a tough situation like that? It s part of football. You always have to have that next man up mentality. I think he did a good job of just keeping us moving down the field. What is your health situation? I ll be all right. Just have to get some treatment, get some rest and I should be straight. Do you think you will play next week? Yeah, of course I ll be out there. What did you think of what QB Tom Savage did? I think he did a good job. We got the win. He did a great job of just helping us move down the field and taking advantage of his opportunity. Can you talk about your touchdown run? The offensive line did a great job of getting movement up front, getting their guy in the end zone and I was just trying to be decisive. And just make a play. What was it like in the huddle during that last drive? We knew the situation. We just wanted it. We found a way to win. Everybody was making plays. Everybody was catching the ball. The offensive line did a great job of making sure the quarterback doesn t get pressured and we were just moving down the field. QB BROCK OSWEILER (Transcribed by Allie LeClair, Stephanie Weaver and Hannah Pietsch) Do you have a comment on the quarterback change? Boy, I haven t really had much time to think about it. The only thing that s on my mind right now is this football team found a way to win this football game. It was a gritty victory. It was a tough victory. I thought our home crowd stayed in it the whole game. They cheered as loud as I ve ever heard them late down that stretch, and we won the football game. That s the story. This football team battled for four quarters. Our fans stayed in it. Our fans were a huge advantage as far as there were a couple of late false starts on Jacksonville that made a huge difference in the game. This football team won a big football game today. Are you disappointed that you didn t finish the game? Well, of course. As a competitor anytime you don t play well, you get pulled out of game, of course there s disappointment. That s a natural human reaction. Also, there s disappointment because you want to be your best for your teammates. I love this football team. I love every single player in this locker room. I love this coaching staff.

8 The McNair family, Rick Smith, everybody for giving me this opportunity. You are disappointed because you feel like you let them down. But, then at the same time you are happy because this football team found a way to win. Tom (Savage) had a huge day. Tom has worked extremely hard. He s been a great friend. He s been a great teammate. Obviously, there s disappointment but at the same time there s joy and there s happiness because this football team won a football game that we needed to win. What happened with the interception that was picked off in the middle of the field? There were some miscommunication between me and the wide receiver. Bottom line, the number one thing that you re taught in the National Football League as a quarterback is don t make a bad play worse. I made a bad play worse. It s inexcusable. It was a ball I never should have thrown. I probably just should have tucked it and scrambled for a few yards and got down. I completely understand why Coach did what he did. Ultimately, like I said, I m just happy for this football team. Our defense played an incredible game. Our offensive line, our skill guys, you know Tom Savage had a huge day. Like I said, I love this football team. I love every single player in this locker room. I m just happy that we were able to pull out a win in the end. Talk about what you were doing as the game progressed. Unfortunately, I ve been down this road before. I understand what it s like to get benched in the middle of a football game. Ultimately having a big picture view on the deal, it s all about being the next man up and being a great teammate. Tom stepped in today, and he played a phenomenal game. The guys really rallied around him. Our defense played great. This game is so much bigger than just one person. This is about the team. If I sit there and mope, what am I moping about? We ve got a football game to win. I just flipped roles. Obviously, I ve been a backup quarterback in this league for three and a half years. I know how to play that role. I just wanted to be there for Tom if he needed me in any kind of way. Whether it was a protection question, maybe a progression question, anything like that. I just wanted to be there for him and the rest of the team because like a said, I love these guys. I love every player in the locker room. I love being a Houston Texan. At the end of the day, it s all about being a great teammate. Today we won a big football game that we needed to win. That s what it s all about. That s the real story. It was a gritty performance by this team, and they found a way to win it. Do you expect to start on Saturday? You know, those decisions aren t up to me. I think Coach O Brien, the staff, obviously Rick Smith, and everybody else I m sure will have a conversation. My job is just to be ready to play and prepare like I m going to play. If I start, I start, and I m going to give this team everything I have performance-wise. If I m the backup, I m going to be there to support Tom. I m going to coach him and do everything he asks of me. Ultimately I just want to be a great teammate, and I want to do whatever it takes for this football team to win game. Did it stun you went it happened? Like I said, unfortunately, I ve been down this road before. It didn t surprise me. When it happened to me prior, obviously with a different team and a different season, it was to spark the team and sometimes that s what it takes. Sometimes just a little lineup change sparks the team. Obviously, I think there s been a common denominator throughout the season of our offensive struggles, certainly not saying it s me, but we need to sit down and we need to figure out what that common denominator is and continue to progress as an offense. Because you ve been through this before, does it make the decision easier to deal with? As a competitor, it s very hard to get pulled out of a game. From Monday all the way up to game time, there s not an hour that I m not focused on the game plan, focusing on my job, because ultimately, I want to be the best teammate I can be and I want to perform at a high level every single week because that s what this locker room deserves. We have a tremendous defense, we have a tremendous offensive line, and we have great players across this team. They deserve great quarterback play, so I m giving it every single thing I have, so it s very hard when it doesn t go well and you are pulled out of the game. But at the end of the day, like I said and it s the truth, I m just so happy this football team was able to find a way to win this game. Tom played tremendous, the skill guys stepped up, the offensive line stepped up. Our defense played lights out, and that s the real story. This was a tremendous team win in front of a great home crowd today. Like I ve told you guys before, in good times and bad, this is the ultimate team sport. It s the ultimate team sport for a reason, and it takes everybody to win football games. And today it took two quarterbacks, and so I m very happy for Tom (Savage) and I m very happy for this team. QB TOM SAVAGE (Transcribed by Nathan Edwards)

9 What were your thoughts when they came to you in that situation? I mean, I was excited for the opportunity. Really, I was just pumped. Pumped to go in there. How crazy was it to have not played for a really long time in a regular season game and then go in like that? It was nuts, but I think the guys did a good job of rallying around me and making some plays for me. I m happy to be a part of this team. Were you surprised it happened? You know, I m always, each week going in there prepared be the starter. That s kind of the mindset I always have, just so when those situation come you re not startled, you re ready to go in there and make some plays for the team. Were you mentally ready to go out there? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn t be suited up if I wasn t mentally ready to go out there. That s what this team deserves. They deserve someone to go in there and perform. When they call my name, that s what I tried to do. Did anything happen out there that made you feel comfortable as things went on? No, I think just the guys. The line did a heck of a job, the receivers made some big plays for me, the protection was great and Lamar (Miller) and (Alfred) Blue and all those guys ran their tails off. It s exciting. What was it like for you in the huddle as the game progressed? It was good. I got the little dry mouth at first and I was kind of in shock but other than that just shook it off and kind of went out there and tried to execute my job. Were you surprised when they came to you at that point or did you have a sense it might be coming? I don t pay attention to any of that stuff. I just each week Brock (Osweiler), me, Brandon (Weeden), we all go out there prepared to be the starter, and that s just the way it is. It seemed like you had a great rapport with WR DeAndre Hopkins today. Did it help that you have played with him before? Yeah, I mean, it s just being around him. I mean, obviously not getting the physical reps with him but being around him for three years, you kind of know what he s about and you know that he s one of the best receivers in this league. It was good to show that today. It seemed like you and QB Brock Osweiler had a lot of conversations on the sideline once you came into the game. What did you guys talk about? Brock (Osweiler) was telling me about just everything he sees out there. At the end of the day, we just want to win, and that s kind of what it comes down to. So, he was helping me out with different points and things that he sees, and I would do the same for him. You ve been through so much with what you went through last year. To be at this point now and get an opportunity, can you reflect on that? Yeah. I think it s more just being prepared for when your time comes. Obviously my rookie year, go back to that time, that dreadful moment of my career. I just didn t really enjoy it that much. I wasn t really prepared the way I wanted to, so I wasn t going to let that happen again. Now we just got to keep getting after it and go back to work on Monday and see what we can improve on. How comforting is it to know you have that defense behind you? Oh, yeah. They re one of the top defenses in the league. Like I said out there, it s easy to go out there and win some games with those guys on the other side of the ball. They do a heck of a job. How are you feeling? Are you 100 percent healthy? Yeah, absolutely. What were your teammates reactions after you led them to that win? I mean, I think everyone s always excited after a win. There s nothing better in the world than a winning locker room. That s what s exciting about this. We re going to enjoy it today and go back to work on Monday.

10 What were your teammates saying to you throughout the game and when it ended? Just that they got my back and they re ready to roll. That s kind of all you want to hear as a quarterback, is all the linemen tell you they got your back and the receivers are going to make the plays for you. Our job is just to get it to them and let the athletes make plays. Was anything said about next week? No. What was the big difference in why the offense started getting going once you got in the game? I don t know. I m going to have to go back and kind of look at it on film. There s different breaks and stuff and defenses that happen. I think just some of the guys made some plays for me. How do you like what you did out there today? I like that we won. That s the most important thing. POSTGAME QUOTES FROM JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS Head Coach Gus Bradley T Kelvin Beachum QB Blake Bortles WR Marqise Lee LB Paul Posluszny CB Jalen Ramsey HEAD COACH GUS BRADLEY (Transcribed by Alison Chastain and Katie Karsh) Opening Statement Tough game today, obviously, losing a close one like that. I thought the defense did some good things, got some takeaways, especially early, giving us the opportunity to build the lead. Special teams I thought came back and had a nice day too. The story of the day was in the second half and just the offense. The time of possession wasn t in our favor. They had over 75 plays and we had just under 50. When you have a lead like that and you come out in the second half, you don t want to be passive, you want to be aggressive but you also need to control the clock and earn some first downs. We just didn t do enough of that with our offense. Again, total team effort. We had some opportunities to get some stops by the defense and we didn t get enough of them. We played good with special teams and defense. We just didn t play good enough. WR Marquise Lee had the kickoff return for a touchdown, how did that play develop? It was good. We felt like we ve been close with our kickoff return with some opportunities. He s been getting out to the 35 and the 40-yard line. We just give credit to our staff and the players for executing it. I thought everyone was really aggressive on their blocks. We ve talked about straining more and I thought we saw strain on that play. Talk about CB Jalen Ramsey and the day he had with the Texans going after him a lot. They did. It wasn t a complete matchup. We did some different things where it wasn t on him all the time. I think you saw that. We had a philosophy going into the game and I thought the plays that they threw at him - he s a great wide receiver now, (DeAndre) Hopkins is very talented so he is going to make some plays. I thought we stuck to it pretty good. What about the lack of pass rushing on the defensive side? That s the problem. We tried some pressure and tried quite a bit on first and second down, but we still didn t get to him enough and disrupt his plays. You get a guy that comes in the game and you have to try to make him real uncomfortable in a hurry. We brought some pressure initially. I give him credit. He made some plays and the offense made some plays.

11 Discuss the challenge of left guard when you lose OL Jermiah Poutasi and OL Josh Wells? It s challenging. You ve got some guys playing in unfamiliar spots. It s been a challenge, but give credit to Nathaniel (Hackett) and his staff for adjusting. I know we had to go to plan B. What happens if we lost a tackle is Ben (Koyack) would have probably had to play some tackle. There was some reconfiguring going on as far as where guys were going to be positioned. The guys had to play different positions, jumped in and did fine. This is the second week in a row where your defense has played really well in the first three quarters, but not the fourth. Can you talk about that? Yeah, I thought - you know you re right. When you got a lot of plays, the fourth quarter is what we talked about. We have to own the fourth quarter. We had the lead going into it last week, you know, and then this week again. When you have opportunities in the fourth quarter really all three phases have to come through and do their part, so we had some timely penalties. Pass interference, you know, take a look at that but when you re challenging you re going to have some plays like that and again they just - I give them credit. There were 91 yards of penalties and you talked about them being timely penalties. What did you see? You know what, I don t know about (Jalen) Ramsey s. We ll take a look at it. It looked like from our angle I don t know if it was uncatchable or not. They deemed it was. So we ll take a look at that. We re going to continue to play aggressive. We have to be smart though. We have to be smart. I think it was 30 more yards what they had penalties wise, but like you said timely. Untimely ones. How much do you think your team is beaten down mentally since you are on a nine-game losing streak? I don t think so. I guess you guys will decide that. When I look at them out there, they re competing. They re going for it. It s just the opportunities just didn t go our way. QB Blake Bortles numbers were pretty rough. How much of that was him and how much of that was everything going on around him? Well again, you know, you got a really dominant front. A good front. Going into a game, planning all week again planning on who they might have and who they may not have, but a game plan and you know with the idea in mind that hopefully we can get a lead and that was accurate. We did. Again, they just had too many three-and-outs. Sixteen plays I think in the second half. Will there be any consideration next week to trying QB Brandon Allen? No. We have not talked about anything like that. Does QB Brandon Allen not get enough reps in practice to play in a game? No because Blake (Bortles) is our quarterback. He has an opportunity to get better here these last couple games and improve. It s important for him. It s important for our team to finish strongly now these last two games and that s the message and we need everybody. We need everybody to do that. The team seems conservative on offense. Can you talk about that? Yeah well I think we were going to run the ball. We had two plays called there and then we ran the ball and it was right in that area. It wasn t enough to keep going. We wanted to keep going at that point in time because it was a shorter gain. It wasn t like we broke one for 10 or 15. You re right. I can see where you d criticize that or critique that. At the point going in the locker room, OK let s go, let s be smart. We got a lead and we get the ball in the second half. T KELVIN BEACHUM (Transcribed by Hector Castelltort) You made it clear all throughout the season for you is all about the wins and losses. So, after today at some point how do you keep finding ways here? I don t know, I can t help you there. I ll said it before, it is the NFL. We were up by a number of points, double digits at one time, we just can t lose the game that s all it comes down too. We can t lose the game offensively, we were in and out of the field in the second half. There is too many three-and-outs. Not enough sustain drives to keep our defense off the field. 150 total yards of offense, is that going to win a lot of games in the NFL?

12 Not at all. Our defense did a great job on turning the ball over and putting us in a great positions early in the game. It came to three points, we got to find a way to get seven points and put the game out of reach. I know it is a young team with few veterans out, but do you think it gets down to crunch time and can t get over the hump? Like I said, it is the NFL and everyone has young players. It is a young league, it doesn t matter. We got to find a way to make plays, to score. We got to find a way to put seven on the board when your number is called. What are your thoughts on DE Jadeveon Clowney, you got a chance to go against him in the snaps that you did? I thought, I played a decent game, he had some pressure. He is a great player, good player, explosive. Does a great job and they do a great job to put him in a number of positions for him to eat and be successful. What s the challenge for you, you know, when OL Jeremiah Poutasi goes down and then OL Josh Wells goes down. I mean, the left guard position the whole year really has been a revolving door? It s been difficult, but that s the NFL, you know. Next man up, somebody has to come up and play. We are not trying to make excuses. I got to find a way to whoever that person is bring him along as fast as I can, so that we can perform on Sunday s. Do you feel they tried to run a lot of stunts to try to take advantage, of maybe a lack of cohesiveness just because of guys constantly shuffling? That s something that they all have in their arsenal already, is too run a number of games in their five game package. They did a great job, like I said, putting in us in the position we were under for numbers of times. Like I said, Clowney did a great job to make plays when he had too. QB BLAKE BORTLES (Transcribed by Adam Rauch) Can you comment on today s game? I thought our defense did a really good job forcing turnovers, (we) scored on special teams, just never could really do anything on offense. We scored a touchdown, had a couple good things going, brought in a couple guys to play left guard, they got banged up, we had to make some adjustments in the game with our gameplan I thought we did a good job with that. But we were never really able to do anything. With the Texans missing DE J.J. Watt and OLB Whitney Mercilus, you guys had a chance to really get things going. However, DE Jadeveon Clowney was kind of a one-man wrecking crew, wasn t he? Yeah. We have to do a better job of taking care of that, whether it s finding different ways to attack them or just being better in the things we were doing. We kind of let him take control of that game a little bit. Where s the frustration level at now with nine consecutive losses? It s about as high as it can get. I don t know, really for anyone in this locker room, how much more frustrated you can be. Once again, we had all the opportunities in the world, chances in the fourth quarter to score, we just don t do it. How frustrating was it to see the lead slip away in the fourth quarter? I think we have to continue to play. We kind of played like a basketball team that gets a lead and then just sits at the three-point line and just passes the ball around and chucks a three up when the play clock runs down you can t do that. You have to be able to stay aggressive, you have to be able to go make plays, you have to continue to take shots and continue to try and score points. You can t just sit there and say, We have a lead, let s just try and hang on to this thing and win. You have to keep continuing to go play, continue to go produce and we didn t do that. With all the injuries the Texans have on defense, can you speak to some of their younger guys who stepped up today? Those are guys we knew were going to be good. Like you said, they had some key starters out and some big players out, but the guys they put out on the field are good players. We knew that going into the game. We knew (Jadeveon) Clowney s a good player, he s playing at a high level right now, same with (A.J.) Bouye. It s just a lack of plays, a lack of everything.

13 WR MARQISE LEE (Transcribed by Adam Rauch) When did you know you were going to score on your kickoff return? Once I got through the hole. I had great blocking. The kickoff return team did a great job executing the blocks and everything like that. They left me a hole, so I just ran. This was the first time in nine years you guys had a kickoff return for a TD. We knew we were going to get the opportunity eventually. We got the opportunity previous weeks before and kind of fell short getting to the 40- and 50-yard line. But as far as our mindset, we felt like we were going to get down there before the end of the year and it happened today. Was there anything with the Texans special teams unit that you saw that made you believe you could score like that today? Any time you ve got an opportunity to take a return, that s a chance in our eyes and in my eyes. As a returner, I m going to take it regardless. Can you talk about the frustration on the offensive side of the ball? Struggles. Today was not a good day for us, in all honesty. The defense did great once again and the offense was messing it up. We ve got to come together and figure it out. We say it every week, but we really have to figure it out. We still have to go out there and continue to compete, that s the main thing, and we just really have to finish. We re not finishing whatsoever. That s one thing we have to do as a whole. Me, as a receiver, on my routes and catches and things like that. The linemen, for our penalties and things like that. It s a whole. We have to correct these things as a whole and we re going to get it done. LB PAUL POSLUSZNY (Transcribed by Taylor Turner) Every weekend we talk about us getting back on the field. The next week getting another opportunity, but at this point are guys ready to see this season come to an end? No, because we have two more division games. So that s the important part, focusing on those. What differently did you see from QB Tom Savage when he came in replacing QB Brock Osweiler? Different looks? Different plays? What looked different to you? Nothing. They kept the offense very similar to how they had been in previous weeks. Did Tom Savage just look sharper? What were the challenges Tom Savage brought relative to Brock Osweiler? When (Tom) Savage came in, he was throwing the ball very accurately. He was putting the ball in some tight windows, finding his open receivers. Have to give a lot of credit to him. He stepped in and made the throws that he needed to make. For you guys to start as well as you did with the two interceptions of Brock Osweiler; how tough is that as the game slowly starts getting away? It s very difficult, because it s completely our fault. It s not having the ability to finish. That s what we re lacking right now. CB JALEN RAMSEY (Transcribed by Hector Castelltort) They repeatedly kept going to WR DeAndre Hopkins and you had a pretty good day against him. Do you like having days like that where you get that kind of action? I want you to understand, I wasn t on (DeAndre) Hopkins all the time. That s debatable. I was on him a good amount of times. That s what I asked for at the beginning of the week, of course. That s the type of competition that I thrive for, that s what I live for. I mean, he is a dog. There is no way around it, he s a dog, but I am too. He always tries to make his presence be felt on the field, the same way that I do; very similar in that aspect, fierce competitors. That s always going to be a must-watch match up, always going to be a must-watch game, me and him. As far as having