Houston Texans Linebacker Cushing Lost for Season
Oct 8, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing (56) walks off the field after being injured during the first half against the New York Jets at MetLIfe Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE
Brian Cushing left Monday night’s game against the Jets after a questionable block left him with a left knee injury. The Texans training staff immediately feared the worst and their fears were realized on Tuesday when his MRI results were positive and his ACL was torn.
Some players are athletic anomalies and are able to return from an injury as severe as this in a shorter time than others. However, even players like Wes Welker and Adrian Peterson who tore their ACLs in the last game of the season in 2010 and 2011 respectively, were only able to return for week 1 of the regular season.
Their returns were astoundingly quick and that was eight months. Anyone who believes that there is even the slightest chance that we could see number 56 suiting up for the playoffs is out of their mind. Unfortunately, whatever the Texans accomplish this season, they’ll do so without Cushing manning the middle.
Almost equally unfortunate as the injury is the way in which the injury occurred. Seth Payne essentially said that whether it was a chop block or clipping is irrelevant and the play was illegal either way. While the rules don’t clearly define either, the block was clearly illegal and yet went unpenalized.
It appears that the Texans have become the boy who cried wolf as they had called out two of the previous four teams they had played against for dirty play. There is only so long that you can toot that horn before people will stop feeling sorry for you, and in this case what would appear to be the dirtiest play the Texans have seen all year long went unnoticed by the referees.
It is unfortunate and a crushing blow to the team, but we certainly wish Brian Cushing a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the field and making plays next year.