The Houston Texans come into the 2013 regular season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl and will begin their push towards it with a Monday Night Football season opener against the San Diego Chargers at 10:15 p.m. ET.
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Brian Cushing and the rest of the Texans defense will try to spoil the Chargers' debut of their new offensive scheme under first-year coach Mike McCoy on Monday in San Diego.
Playoff appearances each of the last two years were enough for a Houston franchise that went 55-89 in its first nine seasons. But after going 12-4 last year, the Texans aren't frightened to set about the bar higher.
"I think it's obviously our main goal and our final goal, but there are a lot of steps that lead up to that," Cushing said of reaching the Super Bowl. "It's mentioned here and there, but ... there's a ton of steps before we start talking about the Super Bowl and it becomes a realization. It's one of those things that we have a lot of work to do before that's real."
The fifth-year linebacker -- who signed a six-year, $55.6 million extension with Houston on Wednesday -- returns to the field after tearing his left ACL in Week 5, thus missing the remainder of the season. The 2009 Defensive Rookie of the Year ranked 15th in the NFL from 2009-2011 with 323 tackles.
"It's a chance to go back out there and really establish our role as a dominant defense," he said. "To help with that is going to be a tremendous feeling."
Even without Cushing for the better half of the year, the Texans still perservered and finished seventh in total defense, bolstered by Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt's league-leading 20 1/2 sacks. While the unit was weaker against the pass, Houston added a veteran presence by signing nine-time Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed.
