Texans keeping focus on themselves heading into showdown with undefeated Cardinals

The Houston Texans know they have a significant matchup with the Arizona Cardinals Sunday.

Not only do the Texans take on familiar faces in receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who notched all three of his career All-Pros with Houston, and defensive end J.J. Watt, who earned all three of his NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Texans, but the 1-5 squad also seeks to break their five-game losing streak against the 6-0 Cardinals.

Cornerback Desmond King says the Texans have been taking the same approach for Week 7 as they have every other week.

“It’s a new week each and every week,” said King, who has 30 combined tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup, and a forced fumble in six games. “Just have that same mindset, going into win. That’s the only reason we travel each and every Sunday is to go out there and play our best, play our hardest, play as a team and to win.”

The Texans haven’t exactly been close in any of their past five losses, save for Week 2 when they were tied 14-14 with the Cleveland Browns at halftime or Week 5 when they held a 13-point lead over the New England Patriots.

Receiver Brandin Cooks, who has 40 catches for 481 yards and a touchdown, says the focus against the Cardinals is how to play a complete game in all three phases.

“At the end of the day, I think we know going into this week and just trying to figure out how we can truly play a complete game ourselves and focus on ourselves,” Cooks said. “Great team, don’t get me wrong. With that being said, we want to beat them, obviously. We just got to continue to focus on building ourselves and playing the best ball we can, and let everything else kind of take care of itself.”

The Texans will start rookie quarterback Davis Mills for the fifth straight week as former Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor continues to recover from a strained hamstring.