**
DE Mario Williams**
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Q: What are your thoughts on facing your former team this weekend?
A: I am very excited to go back and to play. Glad to be a part of it and have an opportunity to get on the field.
Q: Are the any feelings of wanting to show them what they are missing, especially after a slow start? Do you have anything extra to prove against your former team?
A: At the end of the day, I have something extra to prove in general. Definitely with everything going on, it has not been the way I really wanted it. Going out, making an impact and just being better to help the team win. It is just a coincidence it is this week after the bye week. Everybody has time off to kind of regroup and look at things. Just happened to be against this team.
Q: How do you feel about the Texans? Do you get why you are not there anymore or is there a little animosity that is like 'Hey, they did not want me anymore'—how do you feel about that?
A: At the end of the day it is a decision that the General Manager made. Opened the door and pretty much gave me a one way exit. That was it. At the end of the day it is what it is. It is part of the business. People do not realize what really happened at that point in time. That is fine. The fans can only go off of what they hear everybody else say. That is fine with me. It is part of the game. I am here now and just have to make the best of it.
Q: Do you think you will be booed?
A: It is what it is. Probably. It is expected, but at the end of the day you are playing football. You are not really paying attention to everything else that is you going on. You want to take whatever happens and is in front of you and take that out on the field. Use it as extra motivation.
Q: How does your wrist feel and how has it responded since getting back here?
A: It feels great. I worked out, finally, for the first time Monday and Tuesday. Something I have not done in a while. I am really excited. I think the biggest thing is, not feeling normally yet (since) I just had surgery, but being able to progress. Getting in the weight room has definitely lightened my spirits.
Q: Would you anticipate being able to do more on the field this week?
A: Definitely. As I talked to the doctors, it is supposed to be week-by-week getting better. That is all we can ask for with the healing process, as far as making me feel comfortable and get back to doing the basic things I used to do.
Q: In a short-term sense, do you feel it will let you be more effective and try to do more things than before the procedure just one week in?
A: Yeah, definitely. Mentally at this point since the end of the preseason, I think mentally my spirits are definitely uplifted tremendously. I need that and not just for me working out. Being on the field and around my teammates.
Q: Do you think about going back to Houston? When the schedule came out you knew you would be going back there for this game. Have you thought about going back there? Maybe seeing friends or just how it would be going back?
A: It is going to be great to see old teammates and old friends. I think that is the biggest thing. Whenever you play with somebody for so long, you get the bond and the brother ship that you have there. It is going to be great to go back, see the guys and play on the field against them.
Q: You said you were upset that fans did not know what happened, what did happen?
A: It is the simple fact of everybody looks at it like you just up and left. You do not know the fact of basically being told we are not giving you anything as far as an offer or anything like that. Your hands are tied in that aspect. Everybody else looks at it like that you just went into free agency and left. Obviously there was plenty of time for things to be done and it was not. That is fine with me. I just wish everybody else that runs their mouth, says this and that knew the whole story about it before making a decision about me just abandoning the fans, the team and everything else like that because that is not my role. I am not that type of guy.
Q: There was no offer whatsoever?
A: Yeah, I never…I am here now and I am excited about it. We need to make the best of it. There was never an offer from the General Manager. Like I said, there was a one way door that was open,
Q: Would you have preferred to stay with the Texans in a perfect world?
A: At the end of the day it is almost like saying you do not know what would happen after the fact. None of this (would have happened). I would not have even been a position to hit free agency if it had happened. I voiced my opinion on it before. Any other team, any other situation came about that I wanted to stay there. Fans that saw me said 'Do not leave.' I said 'I do not want to leave.' That is just how it is. Nothing against whether or not I am here or anywhere else. This was prior to even having the door opened. I never said I wanted out, but like I said, that was prior to what happened. Do not take it, I am sure everybody is going to twist it up and say 'Oh well he did not want to come here' and so forth. That is not what I said. Like I said, I never asked them to (leave). I was basically given a door in a quiet manner and I had no other choice.
Q: The day you hit free agency the GM of the Texans came out and told the media we would like to make him an offer.
A: It never happened.
Q: Do you think that was just closing the door as you left?
A: At the end of the day, people are going to believe what they hear. I do not have a say in that. With that statement being made, there was never an offer made. At the end of the day, it is something people do not realize or understand. They just think 'Oh well he just up and left and that is the type of guy he is.' That never happened. Obviously they kind of keep it open as a window to say 'We want him back,' but the General Manager at the end of the day makes the decisions. I know the coaching staff was very high on me and I was high on them obviously. We had six years together. We came in together. At the end of the day, the General Manager makes the decisions.
Q: Why do you think that was? Why do you think a guy of your stature would not have gotten an offer from a team you spent six years with?
A: That is a question you might want to ask the General Manager. Like I said, at the end of the day I cannot do anything about it. When the cards are dealt you have to play them. That is what I did and I am here now. I am grateful.
Q: At some level, even with you having a lot to worry about here in regards to your health, your performance, the performance of the defense—does this game mean more at some level based on what you just talked about?
A: I think the biggest thing for me is I cannot single out one team whether or not it was the team you were at before. I think it means more for us to get back on track. We have nine games left and I think the biggest thing is to go out and perform. Go out there and make it happen. At the end of the day we are here now. That is all you can look at.
Q: Is Bud (Carpenter) going to let you practice?
A: I do not know. I actually just put my cast on, obviously to protect it. It would be foolish not to protect it at this point. I am not sure.
Q: Talk about the challenge of stopping RB Arian Foster. You are familiar with him and this defense has had difficulty stopping the run. Obviously though, you know what you are going to be facing.
A: Yeah, definitely from playing against that offense and things like that for the last few years. He makes everybody right at the end of the day. He is the type of player that can do anything at any given time if you give him a crease. Like I said before, it is definitely going to come down to us being fundamentally sound and staying in our gaps because he will take it one way and if you get cut off, cut or just get out of your gap, he is going to see it. He is that type of back. He always has been since he has been in the league. That is the biggest thing for us being able to stop that. Him being such a threat to run the ball, that is what sets up the play action pass to make big plays. They are a big play team. If you limit the big plays for them, even when I was there, it is a lot tougher on them to go, execute and put points on the board.
Q: It is a lot tougher to stop them from putting points on the board too. It is easier said than done.
A: Yeah, definitely. When you have got the threats that they have all across the board offensively, from tight end, running back, wide receivers and quarterback obviously, it is very tough. It has been done. You saw that definitely against the Green Bay Packers. It has definitely been done.
Q: Can you help the coaching staff with the Houston offense a little bit? Tell them little nuances that you picked up practicing against them every day?
A: The thing is that they are just very efficient. They do not do things that are careless with the ball. They do not turn the ball over. That is huge in the league. You turn the ball over, and your chances of winning definitely go down drastically. That is something they do not do. They do not turn the ball over and they play sound football. The things they do are very simple. It is very simple but they are efficient at it. They do not do too much out of character. I think that is the biggest thing, we are going to have to stay calm and face (it). Stick to the game plan because they are just going to be a rhythm and tempo. They are not going to do anything that is going to be drastic. We have to match that and do not do anything on our end to get out of position and mess it up.
Q: Is it hard to see them doing well after how things transpired?
A: Definitely not. I have mad love for them, for each and every player on that team and for each and every coach on that team. There is no type of bad luck or wishing that on them at all. I hope they do the very best. That is definitely how it is. At the end of the day, these are your brothers that you play with for a long time. I definitely do not look at it like 'Oh man they are doing good,' and so forth. They were always good even when I was there—it was just one play here or one play there.
Q: Do you think it will be tough to put a hit on these guys since they are your friends or will you just forget about it once the whistle is blown?
A: You get a chance to hit Matt (Schaub), I am definitely going to. It is going down for sure (jokingly). You do not want to go out there and hurt anybody, but we are all friends.
