HOUSTON– Houston Texans LB Brian Cushing was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 8, becoming the first Texans rookie to earn the award twice in one season. Cushing joins teammate WR Jacoby Jones as the only Texans to win the award twice in the same season. Jones’ honors also came in Weeks 6 and 8 last year.
Cushing secured the fourth AFC Player of the Week honor for the Texans this season. Cushing’s Week 6 award was joined by Jones (Week 4, Special Teams) and QB Matt Schaub (Week 2, Offensive). A Texan has won an AFC honor following four of the team’s five wins this season. Houston’s four Player of the Week awards this season matches the team record set last year.
Cushing is the only AFC rookie to win the weekly award. He joins elite company with New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre as the only players in the NFL to win a weekly honor twice this season.
Cushing (6-3, 265) led the team with 10 tackles, recorded the first full sack of his career, had one pass defensed and an interception to seal the Texans 31-10 win over the Buffalo Bills. The Texans offense dominated time of possession all day, causing the Texans defense to be on the field for a mere 20:52. During the Bills 45 snaps on offense, Cushing was involved with 10 tackles, or 22.2 percent of the team’s tackles on the day. Cushing’s interception came with under two minutes to go in the game when he tipped a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass at the line and then hauled in the deflection.
The Houston defense had another dominating performance, holding Buffalo to just 83 total yards in the second half, 54 of which came on the Bills’ final drive. It was the fifth consecutive game in which the Texans defense held an opponent below 100 yards in a half. The Texans forced Buffalo to go three-and-out five times out of 11 drives in the game, including one series in which the Texans stopped the Bills on fourth down. The defense limited Buffalo to a mere nine first downs on the day. It marked the fourth consecutive game in which Houston held its opponent below 20 first downs.
