On Trent Williams:

"I thought for Trent's first game in the National Football League, he did a very good job. You can see his athletic ability both in the running game and the passing game. Going against DeMarcus Ware throughout the majority of the game was quite impressive."

On Jim Haslett's philosophy:

"We had different packages. Sometimes it would be three, four, five man rushes, sometimes it'd be an all out blitz. Those are the things we've talked about in the offseason, trying to keep offenses off balance and guessing. As we talked about when I first got here, I think that's something that causes offenses problems. I don't know which guys are coming especially with a 3-4 defense. Not that we got there a lot, but I think we kept a lot of balance the whole game."

On still feeling the intensity after coaching for so long:

"The intensity is always there. You're thinking throughout the game so you don't get a chance to really get too emotional, or you try not to because you want to think through different situations. Do you call a timeout? Of course, I'm listening to Jim (Haslett) and the defensive coaches during that time and at the same time looking at the clock and going through all the scenarios that exist."

On how much the offense will improve week to week:

"I told our team the first day as we started preseason, I said, 'Preseason games are important. You've got to find a way to win because when we get to the season, we're going to lose people and I want to see how people step in and play.' But at the end of the day, you need to find a way to win. There are going to be games throughout the year that our offense plays well and our defense plays well special teams - but at the end of the day, there's only one thing that really matters and that's finding a way to win. If you win in the National Football League, enjoy it because it doesn't happen all the time. For the next day or the next couple of days, we'll go back and figure out the things we could have done better after winning or losing. That's what you do. Offensively, you go back and look at things you did well, the things you did poorly, and you grow in those things. The same goes for us defensively. Even though we did a lot of good things, there are still a lot of mistakes, as well as special teams. That's kind of my philosophy in general."

On Clinton Portis:

"I thought Clinton did a heck of a job. I thought we got stronger as the game went on. I thought we were in pretty good shape. Most of the success in our running game was in our second half. I thought Clinton did a tremendous job blocking when we did throw the football. He was instrumental in some of the blitz pickups and keeping them from sacking the quarterback."

On getting more wide receivers invloved:

"Games will change. Sometimes, as you saw in preseason, everybody will catch some. Other games, depending on the coverage, depending on what their defensive scheme is, depending on what our philosophy is, relative to gameplan. The one thing we didn't want to do against the excellent defensive football team was turn the football over. We accomplished that. You don't want to give them cheap field position because it's a team that's hard to score a lot of points on. The thing I was hoping we'd do a better job of is scoring in the red zone. When you get your opportunities first and goal from the five-yard line against a team like that, you want to score. Another time we're inside the 10 and we're second-and-six inside the 10, then all of a sudden come away with two drives and three points, you feel fortunate to win the game. I think our defense came up with a big turnover. We had a couple of field goals but beyond that, we kept them out of the end zone and that was the key to the game."

On his running game wearing out the defense:

"I think like most teams, what you want to do is wear football teams down. In the past, we've had some of our better running games in the second half because you do wear defenses down when you're running sideline to sideline. I thought we were able to do that in the second half. The thing I was disappointed on was at third-and-two, we had a chance to put the game away but with two minutes left, we didn't get that first down. We got a penalty then all of a sudden we're third-and-seven going back and missing a third down there giving them a chance to get back into the football game."

On why he accepted the penalty call:

"Forth-and-one I think was an easy decision. Anytime it's that close to first down in that type of field position, you don't want to give one yard to go because I would've went for it. To me the percentages are with you. They're a pretty good rushing offensive football team. It all depends on the game situation and the type of team you're playing."

On Larry Johnson:

"Sometimes we have planned exactly what type of plays we want certain people playing at certain positions. We do have gameplans there. The running back position, I had talked to Bobby (Turner), our thought process there was Clinton (Portis) was tired and didn't feel like he could go so we put Larry right in. When Clinton did get tired, Larry went right into the game."

On his players saying they felt they were playing Shanahan football:

"Well, number one, hopefully Shanahan football will be scoring a few more points. On the serious side, I just liked the mindset of our team going in. They were ready to play, they knew they were playing an excellent football team, a team that is very talented, and they had to play hard for 60 minutes. I think when you take a look at the end of the half, you take a look at the end of the game, when you take a look at [Brian Orakpo], you think, 'I've got to rush a passer,' and all out effort on the last play and you get a holding call. But without that type of effort and [DeAngelo] Hall in, the first half that just was trying to strip the guy and the different things we've practiced with. So, it showed me that guys were willing to play for 60 minutes. When you do that, it gives you a chance to win. It just shows you how important it is for guys to play 60 minutes when you take a look at the last play they had in the half and the last play of the game. That's what separates teams."

On Devin Thomas' effort on kick returns:

"Number one, we're always going to evaluate that. We want to play our best players. I thought Devin did one heck of a job getting us field position against an excellent football team. I think they were second in the NFL last year, 21-22 yard line, when he gets out to the 38 yard line, he's very impressive. The kicker is the one who made the tackle on two of those returns, which is pretty impressive for Devin. But yeah, I think the more you do it the more positive things you show, the more opportunities you get to get on the field and Devin helped himself last night."

On running the same plays twice in the redzone in the third quarter:

"The first one I think everybody saw. It should've been a touchdown and went right through his hands. And then we had a different play called in the second play but I'm not going to get into the strategy of it. But we had a different call and that was an option off the blitz."

On the team focusing on this weekend's game:

"I think that's pretty easy. I think as you get into the season, it's a 16-round fight as we talk about it in the NFL. One round's over and the first round really doesn't mean anything and there's no knockout plays. This takes a lot and the teams that get ready for each round are the teams that have a chance to be successful. We talked about the importance of this game being a division game. That kind of separates the rest of the games and especially when you have them at home. But I think our football team understands very quickly that Houston and how the Texans played against the Colts, you take a look at what they did in their running game against the Colts and what they did last year throwing the football. It's a team that has a lot of talent and obviously is playing at a very high level."

On how familiar he is with Houston because of connections to the staff:

"I think I know it quite well. Frank Bush was with me for a number of years as a position coach, as a special teams coach. I know, obviously, Gary [Kubiak] and the staff there as well. They know me, so I am not sure if there are any big advantages, but we do know each other."

On how the offensive line rotation was evaluated on film:

"We had Kory [Lichtensteiger] go in there a little bit for Doc (Derrick Dockery). We switched off. I think Kory wound up having about 40 plays and I think Kory [Lichtensteiger] had a lot less than that. We got two guys that have played very closely in the preseason. Obviously, Doc is our starter but I wanted to take a look at Kory [Lichtensteiger] as well. In Jammal's (Brown) situation, I didn't feel like Jammal was in a position to play a full game. He just didn't have enough reps throughout the preseason. I want to get him in better shape. Stephon [Heyer] has played well when he has played throughout the preseason. Stephon got a fair amount of reps during the game and I thought the plays he did play in, he played well. Jammal played 50 plays and I thought he did a good job considering he hasn't played that many plays this preseason."

On quarterback Donovan McNabb's movement in the pocket:

"You always want to see your quarterback be able to make plays. I think everyone knows that one of the keys to Donovan through the years is his ability to make plays when there is nothing there. That's what great quarterbacks do. I think as time goes on with our system, he will be more comfortable with the system, more comfortable with the terminology. It just comes with playing the position. Obviously, he's got a lot of game experience but there is nothing like calling the plays and executing a different offense in the heat of battle. For the first game, I thought he did a good job."

On the ability of the wide receivers to get open:

"I thought we did some good things last night. Santana [Moss] is a playmaker. He's got a lot of ability. As I said, we'll constantly get better in that area. We had some opportunities for a couple more big plays that we didn't get. A lot has to do with their pass rush. I think one of the reasons why they've been so successful is their ability to put pressure on the quarterback. There are not a lot of quarterbacks that get a lot of time back there to throw the football. [It is] one of the reasons why they were one of the best defenses last year."

On if there were any injuries from the game:

"We got a few bumps and a few bruises but nothing serious."

On defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth:

"We had most of our linemen play between 15 and 30 plays and they rotated. We had six lineman up for the game. Talking about Albert, Albert played hard. He's getting more comfortable with the 3-4 scheme every time he takes a rep. Hopefully, he keeps on getting better and better, but he did play extremely hard."

On how long he celebrated the victory:

"I got home kind of late and got here kind of early, taking a look at the game film and getting ready for Houston. It is a little different, I got to admit, with an hour-and-half, two hour ride home on a home game. Kind of feels like an away game getting ready for the next day. I am not used to this traffic so it is a little bit unusual. I did feel like we played on the road. The fans were great, what an atmosphere. When you get that type of support, when the crowd is into like that, it really helps put pressure on the quarterback. Some of those holding penalties were due to the crowd noise."