What Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips had to say after his team's 23-22 victory over the Houston Texans on Friday night:

... I thought our first group stepped it up. It was good to see that. Obviously, we left some points on the field. We had some mistakes that we can clear up. We had some individuals that looked good, our offensive line especially protection-wise was really good. I thought we were aggressive on both sides of the ball. That kick return at the end was my fault. They put their first team out there against our reserves, I think we should have squib kicked. Those are the kind of things we can work out.On Adam Jones: Pacman showed can return again. He had an 18-yard return and one guy got him. I think he played well. On Marion Barber: Marion, again, had a big aerage. He only carried it 13 times and still had 75 yards. One run was for one yard on the touchdown. So that will cut the average down a bit. I thought he was awfully impressive.

On Martellus Bennett: He was impressive on that one play. That showed the kind of ability he has and he's been working hard, too.On Danny Amendola: Danny did some good things for us. He caught a big seam route. He still made a couple of rookie mistakes. I think he ran the wrong route one time. But he did fine.On Barber playing the first half: We were just in a rhythm. We wanted to have Barber get some work in. He needed to carry the ball some. We'll need it in the regular season.

On the first kickoff coverage: We had two rookies that could've done a better job and then did it better later on.

On Jason Garrett: I think he did a great job last year and look forward to this season.

On playing the first team next game: We have not decided yet. We need to let individuals get enough playing time to get ready for the regular season.

On Bobby Carpenter: Bobby came in for our nickel and I thought in the first half he was playing really well.

-- Keeli Garza