Quotebook

By Times staff
Published December 10, 2007

From Bucs coach Jon Gruden

On keeping quarterback Jeff Garcia out for another week: "The medical people said the (back) injury was going to take two full weeks. Garcia will tell you he could've played. And he could've. And he played against Washington after he got hurt. But the injury takes two weeks to heal. We feel we did the only thing, and that's let the injury take its time to heal."

On whether quarterback Luke McCown took a step back: "I thought Luke has got to get rid of the football. There's some times where he should throw the ball away. Sometimes, that's the best play you can make. There were four or five situations where that came into play. When you get guys wide open as we did in the third quarter, you've got to make those plays. We had Alex Smith and we had Joey (Galloway) on back-to-back plays. That would've tied the football game and given us some real momentum."

On receiver Ike Hilliard's shoulder injury: "He's the toughest guy that I've ever coached at that position. I don't take anything away from anybody else. But I'm concerned about his overall health right now. He's beat up right now, but we need him back."

From Texans coach Gary Kubiak

On the win: "We played a great football team, and we said we had to do three things. We had to play great defense, and we did. We had to take advantage of every offensive opportunity we had to score points, and we did that. And we had to make a big play on special teams, and we did that."

On the Bucs: "I think you're going to see them playing a lot of (playoff) football in January."

On rookie Darius Walker, who entered with no carries and no catches but finished with 46 yards rushing and 35 receiving: "It was nothing spectacular. But he was very solid. I'm proud of the kid. It's a step forward."

On quarterback Sage Rosenfels: "He's a gutsy player, and I told him that (Saturday) night in front of his teammates. When we made the trade for (Matt Schaub), he was waiting at my door the next morning. I like that. He walked in, and he said, 'You know I can do this. You know I can be the starter.' Sage has the desire and the goal to be a starter in this league. He's always taken advantage of opportunities. He took a big step forward in his career."

On the Houston defense: "We told them (Saturday) night they would have to play tremendously for us to beat this football team. They just kept battling."

[Last modified December 11, 2007, 10:18:36]