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Opening Statement: **"Start off with the injury report: Chimdi Chekwa was limited in practice today with a knee; Maurice Jones-Drew did not practice today with a hand; Taiwan Jones did not practice with a foot; Nick Roach was limited in practice with a concussion; and then Kaluka Maiava did not practice with an illness. So, that's the injury report for today. We're excited about the opportunity – we've got the Houston Texans coming in here. It's a good football team. When you watch their team, defensively, I think they're outstanding. I think they're very fast throughout their defense. J.J. Watt is obviously one of the best players in the National Football League, so he's a guy that we've got to contend with and we've got to understand where he's going to be. They do a good job moving him around, putting him in some different spots. I think they're active in the secondary. They've played well back there in the back end and they played well the other day against Washington and really throughout the preseason. Offensively, obviously Andre Johnson is a big play threat for them out at wide receiver. I think they've got a lot of good, solid tight ends. Schematically they're similar to some of the things that they've done in the run game. They do a good job up front and I think Arian Foster is one of those top backs in the league. So, it's a great challenge and we've got to be ready to play."
Q: Is Maurice Jones-Drew expected to miss some time or will he play Sunday?
Coach Allen:"He's day-to-day. We'll see whenever he's available and ready to go."
Q: Was this something he has had for a while?
Coach Allen:"It's a different injury."
Q: Did it happen in the second quarter of the game?
Coach Allen:"I'm not sure exactly when it happened."
Q: Was Nick Roach able to do more today than he did last week?
Coach Allen:"He's doing better. He did a little bit more today, so again, we're following the protocol, we're going to stick with it. Whenever he's ready to go, we'll slide him right back in there."
Q: Does the new coaching staff use J.J. Watt differently than they did last year?
Coach Allen:"Not a whole lot differently. They probably move him around a little bit more. I think they do a good job of trying to get him isolated, get him some one-on-one matchups and do that type of stuff. The thing is, really when you look at their front seven, they're very active throughout their front seven. They do a great job of getting after the passer and so, it's obviously going to be a tough challenge."
Q: You said after the game that you thought both lines got outplayed. What did you see when you were watching film?
Coach Allen:"Really what it boils down to is they were able to run the ball last week. We weren't able to run the ball as well as we would have liked. I saw some good things on tape. I still feel very confident in our football team and the good news is, we're moving on to Week No. 2. It's the Houston Texans and that's what we're focused on right now."
Q: If MJD can't go, is that a big setback for this run game?
Coach Allen:"It's next-man-up philosophy. That happens in football. We'll see where we're at and when and if he's able to practice and we'll kind of go from there."
Q: Will David Ausberry be able to do more this week than he did last week?
Coach Allen:"We'll see. He missed a lot of time. Last week was his first week back at practice, so we're trying to get him back acclimated, so we'll see how that plays out."
Q: With one game under his belt, Derek Carr now a NFL veteran, did he carry himself any differently?
Coach Allen:"I'm not ready to call him a NFL veteran. (laughing) But, I thought he handled himself well in the game last week. I think he practiced well today. I think we'll see improvement just like you see from season one to season two. You always see improvement. The most improvement you see during a season is from Week 1 to Week 2. So, excited about watching him play."
Q: What is his greatest attribute?
Coach Allen:"Well, I think his greatest attribute is he's very mature for his age and he's highly intelligent. It allows us to do a few more things with a rookie player that you might not normally do. But, he's got a tremendous skill set and he's going to do nothing but continue to get better the more opportunities he gets."
Q: You talked during training camp about you were throwing what you could throw at Khalil Mack and then refining it down as the season went on. Did you indeed do that or is he doing a lot still?
Coach Allen:"Well, he's able to handle a lot and he's still doing a lot. Again, we're going to allow him to do as much as he can handle. I think he's vastly improved from the first game you saw him in the preseason to where he's at right now. I think he's continued to get better and he's one of 11 out there and I think we'll get better as a football team. We'll keep getting better."
Q: It seems like some passing downs he's out of the game, have you seen that he's so good in the other areas that you can use him in other ways?
Coach Allen:"The way things go in the National Football League now, you're talking about a guy that plays linebacker, he plays defensive line, he does both. To be able to get a consistent rush, we've got to be able to rotate all those guys. He's not the only one that gets rotated in and out. The objective is to be able to have four fresh rushers when it's time to throw the ball. We'll continue to do that. He's going to play a majority of the snaps, just like he did last week. But there will be some times where we'll have to rest him, and the thing you feel good about is you've got Justin Tuck and you've got LaMarr Woodley who you can bring off edges too, so we still feel pretty good about being able to do that."
Q: Has Nick Roach been cleared for full contact yet?
Coach Allen:"He has not."
Q: Miles Burris played every single snap and 16 special teams snaps. How did he hold up with that?
Coach Allen:"I thought he held up well, I really did. I thought maybe he started a little slow, but I thought as the game went on he got better and better. He'll be more comfortable if he's pressed into action again at the Mike linebacker position, he'll be more comfortable doing that this week."
