'We Don't Play To Lose!' Ex Texans WR Brandin Cooks Not Sorry For Final Win
The Houston Texans narrowly missed out on the first overall pick in this month's NFL Draft. It was a 28-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Davis Mills to tight end Jordan Akins for a touchdown, followed by a 2-point conversion for a 32-31 win over the Colts in the final game of the regular season.
The Bears lost to the Vikings, allowing Chicago to leapfrog the Texans for the No. 1 pick, leaving Houston to pick No. 2.
But a play many Texans fans forget on that drive was a fourth-and-12 conversion from the Colts' 48-yard line when Mills hit receiver Brandin Cooks for a 30-yard catch to keep the winning drive alive.
Cooks - now a Dallas Cowboy - finished the day with 106 yards on five catches, and recently said his goal was to win the game.
“Well, you never suit up to lose, right?” Cooks said on the Adam Schefter podcast. “And so you know that No. 1 pick is out there, but at the end of the day, you go out between those white lines you’re putting out your resume, so as a competitor you’re not going out there saying ‘I’m not going to give them my all because I want the Texans to have the No. 1 pick.’
"You go out there, you give it your all, and let the chips fall where they fall, and they just happen to be one of those situations where it was a nail bitter, and most people were probably like, ‘Wait, why are you guys winning?’ We don’t play to lose, at least from a player’s standpoint.”
Chicago has since traded that No. 1 pick to the Panthers for a haul of draft picks and WR D.J. Moore, while Cooks continues his career in Dallas.
The Texans are left with the franchise-altering decision of who to take at No. 2, and if it should be a quarterback if the one they truly want ends up in Carolina one pick before.
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