His surgically repaired right knee is fully healed, and more significantly, Cushing hasn’t been hounded by constant questions about performance-enhancing substances that dogged him after he was suspended for the first four games of last season.
“I couldn’t really just focus on football,” Cushing said Thursday. “Well, now I can. I can go play football again and help these guys and be the best I can for the team. Now it’s just full-go. I’m really enjoying myself again, which is the main thing.”
Cushing leads Houston (2-0) with 17 tackles heading into Sunday’s game at New Orleans (1-1). New defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is not only impressed by how quickly Cushing has picked up the 3-4 alignment, but also with the intensity Cushing seems to bring to every practice and game.
“He’s a holy terror on the field,” Phillips said. “Every play, he’s all out and he’s getting better and better at his techniques and learning. He’s still in the early stages of learning everything, but he works at it hard. He’s a great football player now. I think he’s got a chance to be something special this year.”
This time last year, Cushing was serving a four-game suspension for testing positive for HCG, a drug on the league’s list of banned substance. He said that he never took the drug, which can be used to restart testosterone production after a steroid cycle.
Nonetheless, the positive test raised doubts about the legitimacy of his rookie season when he had 133 tackles, four sacks and four interceptions. Cushing retained his rookie award after a revote, but the NFL denied the Texans’ appeal for his suspension to be reduced or rescinded.
Cushing acknowledges that the ordeal turned into a draining distraction.
“It wasn’t easy,” Cushing said. “It was a burden hanging over me the whole time. I know I’m doing camp to miss the whole month of September, practicing every day, and then I had my appeal and everything.”
He started the last 12 games of 2010, and moved to the demanding position of middle linebacker when DeMeco Ryans tore his left Achilles tendon and was lost for the season. Cushing finished with 76 tackles, four deflected passes and a forced fumble, and acknowledged that the lingering questions and increasing pain in his knee affected his play.
Now, Cushing feels like the better he performs, the more he will silence skeptics who point to last year and chalk up his rookie season to steroid use.
“Week after week, people will kind of back off that issue. Some people already have,” Cushing said. “I’m having patience this whole time. I can’t lash out or say anything or do things that I don’t want against people who don’t believe in me. But that’s fine.
“No matter what you do, or any sort of success you have, people will doubt you,” he said. “I had a down year last year, and people kicked me while I was down. It’s one of those things that I’ll never forget. And every game and every practice I go into, I keep it in the back of my mind.”
Defensive end Antonio Smith said Cushing seemed more withdrawn last season in the wake of his suspension. This season, Smith said, Cushing seems more like his old self, more energized on the field and off it.
“I like it,” Smith said. “I like when Cush is knocking people out. I like when Cush is getting in people’s faces and getting crazy. I don’t like the quiet Cush, the calm Cush. I like the crazy one. He wasn’t the crazy Cush (last year). The crazy Cush is back now.”
Cushing said his performance in the first two games is a product of nothing more than peace of mind and a healthy knee.
“I haven’t felt this good in a while,” he said. “I feel healthy and hopefully I can stay that way. It’s a tough physical game. Every time you wake up the next day, you remind yourself how really physical it is. As far as how I feel, it’s way better than I did last year.”
Notes: The Texans place backup tackle Rashad Butler on injured reserve with an elbow sprain. Andrew Gardner was moved up from the practice squad to replace him. … RB Arian Foster took snaps, but was limited in Thursday’s practice as he continues to recover from a left hamstring strain. Coach Gary Kubiak said Foster remains “day to day.” RB Derrick Ward will not play in New Orleans because of a sprained right ankle. … WR Jacoby Jones worked individually on Thursday after bruising his left knee in Sunday’s win at Miami. Kubiak said Jones will be re-evaluated on Friday.
Author: CHRIS DUNCAN, AP Sports Writer
Source: yahoo.com/sports
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