Cushing rare rookie OK with little practice

[Wolf]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Brian Cushing was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year and a Pro Bowler, but he lost out to Percy Harvin for Pepsi Rookie of the Year.

Cushing was every bit the high-impact addition the Texans were counting on when they spent their first-round draft pick on him.

It was all the more impressive because he missed so many practices while recovering from injuries -- multiple knee problems, rib fractures, a broken hand, a broken pinkie.

A decision is coming on possible knee surgery in the next two weeks, and he said it would just be a minor procedure.

.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/pos...ittle-practice

I didn't know he was THAT banged up

he is a baaaad motha

get healthy Cush!

[Wolf]

another Cushing article

.FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – No, Brian Cushing does not burn to be great. He burns to be Lawrence Taylor great.

The difference between great and LT great? Double the distance between Cushing’s Park Ridge roots and a home in the Hall of Fame.

But why shouldn’t the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year shoot sky high? Why shouldn’t Cushing embrace the possibility he can take his pro football career places even the indomitable LT couldn’t reach?

“I’ve got one life to live,” Cushing said Thursday, “so why not try to be the best that’s ever played?”

Cushing arrived on the Super Bowl XLIV scene as a finalist for the league’s Pepsi Rookie of the Year award, an honor ultimately granted the Vikings’ Percy Harvin. But after finishing second in the AFC with 133 tackles and after managing five sacks and four interceptions, Cushing wasn’t about to take a short-term loss in the polls as reason to temper his long-term ambitions.

As sure as Michael Jordan hunted NBA immortality, and as sure as Tiger Woods posted Jack Nicklaus’ records on his childhood walls, Cushing is chasing the unmatched standard set by the one Giant who dramatically changed the game.

“He’s one of the reasons I wear 56,” Cushing said of LT.

Taylor’s one of the reasons the Houston Texans made the former Bergen Catholic star the 15th pick of the 2009 draft, and the first among USC’s fearsome linebacker foursome to be taken off the board.

Asked if he truly believed he could someday play in LT’s league, Cushing said, “No question about it. There were times in college that I’d be in a room just watching him on old film, watching the mentality [Taylor] had.

“He had an attitude on Sunday where no one was going to block him no matter what he did. You can know he’s coming, but no one’s going to stop him, and I just love that kind of attitude he brought. It’s very similar to the attitude Ray Lewis has, and that’s something I’m trying to emulate. Hopefully I’ll end up in the same category as those guys.”

Lewis finished the season with one more tackle than Cushing, and last week the kid found himself picking Lewis’ brain, asking the Ravens’ middle linebacker what he needed to do to match his level of consistency and rage.

“Just continue doing what you’re doing,” Lewis told him. “Don’t ever change for anyone, and take care of your body.”

His body. Cushing absorbed his fair share of abuse during a 16-game season that lasted longer than the Spanish Inquisition.

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/02...eat_As_LT.html

[Wolf]

papa Cush(on taking steroids)

Cushing’s father, Frank, said he was certain his son hadn’t cheated himself or the game. Frank delivered his own anti-drug message in a lecture given during Brian’s teens.

“I’ll throw you out of our home if you do that,” he warned his son. “Don’t even think about going there. I’d rather you not play sports than have you ever do that.”

[LonerATO]

Im still pissed that Cush lost out to Harvin

[False Start]

Great finds Wolf. I think Cush will end up being my favorite defensive Texan player ever.

Originally Posted by LonerATO

Im still pissed that Cush lost out to Harvin

Me too.....

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by LonerATO

Im still pissed that Cush lost out to Harvin

For me, the official ROY award is handed out by the Associated Press (since 1967). They give an award to both an offensive and a defensive rookie.

That's the award DeMeco Ryans won. That's the award Lawrence Taylor won. That's the award Robert Brazile won. That's the award Brian Cushing won.

[Wolf]

Texans SLB Brian Cushing expects to resume football workouts sometime in March, he said at the Super Bowl. "I'll probably take another month before I get real serious about training again," said Cushing, who is getting his degree in sociology from USC. "I'm about a week or two before midterm time, which is kind of strange (to say)." Cushing, a finalist for Pepsi Rookie of the Year honors, missed the Pro Bowl because of the effects of lingering injuries, but he said he has no plans to alter his training. Cushing told PFW he's focused on improving the mental part of his game as he tries to build upon an impressive rookie season. "There's no ceiling for that," Cushing said of the learning process. "There's no certain amount where you can learn enough, and this is coming from guys who have played linebacker for eight, nine years telling me this. ... Just being a smarter football player, that's what's going ]to take me to the next level."

http://www.profootballweekly.com/201...ntal-aspect-of

[The Pencil Neck]

Man crushin.

Just sayin.

I wouldn't mind a LT clone at all.