Lovie Smith was not pleased with the fixation that some reporters had on the Brandin Cooks situation that has developed since the Houston Texans failed to deal the star receiver at the trade deadline. After a hard-fought game where his team held their own until the fourth quarter, Smith was ready to answer questions regarding his team’s performance but was met with a barrage of inquiries regarding his top receiving threat, who was absent for the matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
Cooks had missed two practices during Houston’s abridged preparation schedule following their loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Smith made the executive decision to sideline him due to his lack of involvement in the game-planning process, and after fielding his fourth question on the matter, he had had enough.
“You know what, guys, I think we’ve talked enough about it,” Smith exclaimed. “Brandin [Cooks] didn’t play. All right? I told you he will be back in the building tomorrow. If you want to talk about the game, we can do that. As far as the captain, we have two offensive captains each game. Today LT (Laremy Tunsil) was our captain. I thought he represented the team well.”
One would be hard-pressed to not be able to sympathize with Smith’s situation in this regard. Cooks took to Twitter when the trade deadline passed to express his frustration and was listed as a non-participant in practice due at least in part to “personal” reasons. Smith had two options: to play a receiver who clearly had his mind on things that didn’t involve winning football games or to bench him while tempers were flaring and give his younger talent a chance to shine in primetime.
The choice was obvious, and Smith made the best decision possible given the circumstances. Texans fans might not like the idea of the team’s best receiver sitting against the NFL’s best squad by record, but it is unlikely that Cooks was in a position to contribute significantly given that he is in a headspace that necessitated that he miss time in practice.
Houston will look to move on to their Week 10 matchup against the bourgeoning New York Giants next week, and hopefully get their star receiver’s situation figured out to give their offense a shot in the arm that they desperately needed against Philadelphia.
