This week Brian Cushing reached a crossroads of sorts with his knee, opting to deal with the lingering soreness that has hindered his playing.
"I'm good," Cushing said Friday. "I mean, I'm feeling as best as I can right now. Kind of like we talked about, taking it day-to-day."
While Cushing didn't make excuses, he didn't mask his frustration either. He wants to play every Sunday and perform at the level he expects of himself.
"I think we can all kind of agree and see the last couple of weeks really haven't been myself, and that's something that's been really hard on me," Cushing said. "Any time I go out there I want to put the best of myself out there to help the team win. If it's a points where I'm really not with my play and where I am with my health, that's what we've got to do."
Cushing, who worked his way back from a second season-ending knee surgery, has started in all seven games in 2014. Gradually, the soreness in his knee got worse and impaired his playing. At the risk of suffering another injury, Cushing decided to deal with the pain and soreness now. He resumed rehab this week and is working on strengthening his leg.
"There is no one that wants to be out there more than I do," Cushing said. "That's just the bottom line. It's been frustrating and it's been frustrating for years. It's something that I've kind of learned to have to I guess live with, play with and deal with. It's been tough, but at the same time we've got to look out for like I said the longevity of this season."
Cushing is listed as questionable for Sunday's game at Tennessee and will travel with the team. Head coach Bill O'Brien will make the decision prior to gametime of whether or not Cushing can play.
"I believe he feels better, but as far as his ability to play, we have the rest of the day today, tomorrow and hopefully he'll feel even better tomorrow," O'Brien said. "When we get there, we'll have to work him out and see how it goes."
Cushing currently has 50 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, one pass defensed, and three quarterback hits through 2014. In Week 3 against the New York Giants, Cushing tied the Texans single-game franchise record with 17 tackles.
