At 1-8, it is easy to find problems for the Houston Texans. One of the easiest for laymen to point out is that the team is failing in practice. After all, if the Texans were having great practices, it would manifest on game day. Instead, an eight-game losing streak that has wrecked the season has been the result of Houston’s three-day-a-week practices.
According to receiver Brandin Cooks, practices are actually not a problem for the team.
“I really think our practices go well,” said Cooks. “Just to be able to lock in on Sunday and do those things each side of the ball, at the end of the day, we’ve just got to do it.”
Cooks would have tremendous frames of reference. He started out as a 2014 first-round pick with the New Orleans Saints under coach Sean Payton. In 2017, he played for the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, and then was with Sean McVay’s Los Angeles Rams from 2018-19. Ostensibly, those three coaches run good practices.
“There’s no pep talk, there are no speeches,” Cooks said. “You can’t say we’ve got to have better practices, because I think we practice our tails off. We’ve just got to execute.”
Cooks admits the season has been a mental drain through the first nine weeks, but his message to his teammates is one that he preaches through action: work hard.
Said Cooks: “All I know is to continue to work hard, and that’s what will be my message to the guys. (Being) able to play this game is huge. All I’m going to keep doing is working hard and trying to get better every single day, no matter what the results are. That’s how I’m built, and that’s who I am.”
The Texans get the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 21 when their bye week concludes.