Another disappointing loss in Week 7 has the Houston Texans sitting at a paltry 1-4-1 record ahead of their matchup against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. The team is looking for any kind of boost they can get before playing such a challenging opponent, and players spoke to the media on Tuesday about what lies ahead for them as they try to salvage their season.
Defensive lineman Rasheem Green was quick to point out how much of an impact practice makes on the Texans’ fortunes on a week-to-week basis, and how the game is won or lost with the players’ status above the shoulders. The mental aspect of the sport, Green said, is the most crucial aspect to getting wins in the NFL.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned from the guys I’ve played with and from being out there, being around a bunch of different coaches, I feel like the game is more mental than it is physical, for the most part,” Green explained. “For me personally, it’s out there. It’s not about the physical part. It’s all mental, the preparation going into the week, I feel like that’s the biggest difference for me.”
Though expectations for the Texans were low this season, the team certainly won’t be satisfied with anything less than a monumental effort to get back to .500 at the very least. A break-even showing, or as close as they can get in a 17-game schedule, would mark a vast improvement over last year’s results, and might make Houston a more desirable location for prospective free agents in the offseason when they’ll look to add talent for their rebuild.
For now, the Texans will rely on veterans like Green to buoy the team and mentor younger talent to get through the rest of this season making whatever progress they can. To hear Green tell it, most of the work will need to be done in helping the younger crop of players better process the game happening around them and getting them up to speed to compete in earnest next year.