The Texans are sitting at 1-2 with a long weekend to recover following Thursday night's game against Carolina.
That's the plan, according to the players: rest, recover and regroup. The Texans have a locker room full of veterans that aren't worried after just three games.
"We have the guys in the room to go out there and compete, and now we just got to figure out how to get over to the other side," LB Christian Kirksey said. "But like I was telling my guys in the locker room, it's not time to panic. It's not time to worry about anything. We're sitting here at 1-2. We still got a lot of football left in front of us. We still got all our goals right in front of us, and it's very reachable. So, we're going to take this time where we got a couple days where we can get our bodies back, reflect on where we at right now, and then see what we can do to correct our mistakes or get better as a team and just take it one day at a time."
In the Texans' 24-9 loss, Cooks still delivered nine catches for 112 yards. Through three games, he has 23 receptions for 322 yards (14.0 average) and a touchdown.
"I feel great," WR Brandin Cooks said. "We have a long time to break, get recovered, get the bodies right. There's no giving up. There's no negative energy in that locker room. We know what we got. We got something special. But at the end of the day, we got to put it together, be more disciplined as players, stop shooting ourselves in the foot, get those little things right. But very happy what's going forward and we're going to continue to work in that aspect."
The Texans will now have about ten days until their Week 4 game at Buffalo. In the past week, they placed QB Tyrod Taylor on Injured Reserve due to a hamstring injury in Cleveland. Taylor will be eligible to return to action after missing a minimum of three games, according to new league rules. Several defensive starters, including Justin Reid, also missed Thursday's game due to injuries and a short week to recover.
Head Coach David Culley had a similar message for his locker room after the game against Carolina.
"Just to stay with it," DL Jonathan Greenard said of Culley's message. "Like Kirko (Christian Kirksey) said, it's no time to hit the panic button. We're still 1-0 in the division. We would love to get these W's, especially for the fans, they work so hard and support us so much, so I feel like we let them down in that aspect. However, it's no time to hit the panic button, so I think we're just going to go back to the drawing board and get back on it, and you'll see the progression."
The Texans will next travel to Buffalo to play the Bills on Oct. 3.
See the Texans at home as they host the New England Patriots on October 10th. Kickoff is set for noon CT. Click here for tickets
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