Former LB to work as a strength coach and help with the defense

Report: Cushing returns to Texans as coach

Brian Cushing
Tim Warner/Getty Images

One of the most popular and polarizing Texans in the team's history will return to the franchise as a coach.

Cushing has long been heralded for the way he approaches his body and workouts. Many Texans over the years have praised his work ethic in the weight room as well as his dedication to the supplements and nutrition necessary to have his body operate at a high level.

Cushing played in nine seasons with the Texans playing in 109 games totaling 696 tackles, 14.5 sacks, and nine interceptions. He was the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2009 as well being elected to the Pro Bowl the next year. He had two seasons derailed by injury with the Texans. In 2012 he tore his ACL. The next year he broke his leg.

His second and last season in football were marred by violations of the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances. Cushing missed four games in 2010 and 10 games in 2017. Cushing and the Texans pursued a reduction of the suspension in 2010 claiming Cushing violated the policy due to a rare condition called overtrained athlete syndrome. It even went as far as Bob McNair meeting with Roger Goodell pleading his case.

Cushing has always maintained his innocence during the suspensions. In 2018 on former teammate Arian Foster's podcast Cushing said he was blindsided by his failure early in his career. He also said on his second failure a supplement he took that was allowed by the NFL turned into another banned substance in his body.

When asked by Foster if he had ever "juiced," aka taken steroids, Cushing said no and believed it would be very hard due to the amount of testing in the NFL to blatantly cheat.

Cody's Take

People are going to lose their mind about a guy who was accused of cheating is helping with the strength program. That's silly. Cushing isn't introducing anything new these players couldn't get if they didn't already want it. His process of beating it, if that's what happened, doesn't work so no reason to cry foul about him helping them hide it either. He's always had an idea for what it takes in the weight room to be successful and players loved working out with him. He is also heralded as one of the better football minds from the linebacker position in Texans history so his contributions there can only help.

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The Texans will look to get back on track this Sunday against the Colts. Composite Getty Image.

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans are looking for answers after their passing game couldn’t get going in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Houston’s passing attack had been a strength all season, and the Texans ranked fifth in yards passing per game through their first six games. But on Sunday at Lambeau Field, Stroud was limited to a career-low 86 yards in the 24-22 loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak.

Stroud was 10 of 21 and didn’t have a touchdown pass for the first time this season. The second-year player was under duress for much of the day and was sacked four times and hit seven other times.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and see what those issues were,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “As we watch the film, we’ll see what happened, starting for me the communication and just guys being on the details of the job.”

The Texans scored a season-high 41 points in a win over New England a week earlier in which Stroud threw a season-best three touchdown passes despite being without star receiver Nico Collins.

They were unable to replicate that success Sunday with Collins out for the second of at least four games after a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve.

Stefon Diggs led the team with five receptions against the Packers, but they only amounted to 23 yards. Tank Dell, who the Texans expected to step up with Collins out, was targeted four times but didn’t have a catch.

Stroud discussed the importance of getting Dell more involved in the offense.

“We have to find a way to try and get him the rock early and often and then go from there,” he said. “It has to be a focus for us, not only just him, but the whole offense clicking early. That is really my job to get the ball out on time and to where it is supposed to go. So yeah, that definitely has to be fixed.”

Ryans spoke about his confidence is getting Dell going.

What's working

The Texans have forced seven turnovers combined in their last two games after they hadn’t caused any in their previous three games.

Houston scored 16 points off three turnovers Sunday. The Texans had two interceptions and recovered a fumble on a punt. In their win over the Patriots, they scored 17 points off a season-high four turnovers.

What needs help

The Texans won’t get to where they want to be this season if Stroud doesn’t get back on track. Before Sunday, last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year was averaging more than 262 yards passing a game, giving the team confidence that the problems in the passing game are fixable.

Ryans knows the line must give Stroud more time to throw and said the coaching staff will focus on improving in that area this week.

Stock up

RB Joe Mixon continued to shine Sunday in his second game back after missing three games with an ankle injury. Mixon, who is in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati, had 25 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay.

Mixon is confident the Texans will rebound this week if they quit making mistakes.

“Does it look I’m worried? I’m not worried at all,” he said. “Like I said, we got a ... good football team. At the end of the day, we are our own worst enemy.”

Stock down

Dell was unable to help Stroud get the passing game going. The second-year player had a solid rookie season with 709 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in 11 games before breaking his leg. But he hasn’t been able to build on that success this year and has just 194 yards receiving with one score in six games.

Injuries

LB Azeez Al-Shaair (knee), LB Henry To’oTo’o (concussion), CB Kamari Lassiter (shoulder) and S Jimmie Ward (groin) all missed Sunday’s game and it’s unclear if any of these starters can return this week.

Key number

3 — Safety Calen Bullock had his third interception Sunday to tie Dunta Robinson and Jumal Rolle for most interceptions by a rookie in franchise history through the first seven games. He leads NFL rookies in interceptions this season and is tied for third-most among all players.

Next steps

The AFC South-leading Texans (5-2) return to division play Sunday when they host the second-place Colts (4-3), who have won two in a row and four of five.

cj stroud demeco ryans houston texans joe mixon nfl texans

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