Brandin Cooks' parting gift to Houston was a Week 18 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
The wideout caught five passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. His 30-yard catch on fourth-and-12 kept the Texans alive on the game-winning drive.
The victory pushed the Texans from the No. 1 overall pick to the No. 2 spot behind the Chicago Bears, who eventually traded the selection to Carolina, leapfrogging Houston for the chance to take their preferred QB.
"Well, you never suit up to lose, right?" Cooks said on Adam Schefter's podcast, per the Dallas Morning News. "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."
We've said repeatedly over the years that players can't -- and shouldn't -- step on the gridiron thinking or wanting to lose. The game is too punishing for that mentality. In a league full of competitors, they're wired to compete every rep.
Cooks was open about not wanting to be part of another rebuild this year. Following a trade from Houston to Dallas, the wideout won't have to be worried about that sort of talk from Jerry Jones' franchise.
