Packers, Texans begin search for replacements

ASSOCIATED PRESS
If Green Bay Packers players got to vote, Jim Bates might be their next coach.
Bates, the Packers' current defensive coordinator, will interview with general manager Ted Thompson next week for the head coaching job that opened when Mike Sherman was fired.
Bates has the support of his defensive players -- just as he did in Miami at the end of the 2004 season, when Bates was the Dolphins' interim coach.
He knows that isn't enough, but it can't hurt.
"Players don't determine who's the next coach," Bates said. "It's always a positive, I think, that the players believe in me."
The Houston Texans, meanwhile, are looking inside and outside the organization to find a replacement for fired coach Dom Capers. They met with one of each Thursday: receivers coach Kippy Brown and Kansas City offensive coordinator Al Saunders.
Brown and Saunders met with owner Bob McNair, general manager Charley Casserly, consultant Dan Reeves and McNair's son, Cal. Miami offensive coordinator Scott Linehan interviewed Wednesday.
The McNairs, Casserly and Reeves were flying to Denver on Friday to talk to Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak.
Brown, 50, has worked for the Texans since 2002, their first season. Saunders, 58, has also interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings and is a candidate to replace retiring Dick Vermeil with the Chiefs.
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