HOUSTON -- Brian Cushing missed practice this week with the knee that's been surgically repaired twice acting up in the past few weeks.

"People kind of tend to forget how much the knee's gone through," the Houston Texans linebacker said. "I sure haven't. I sure haven't forgotten. I'm kind of reminded about it every day."

It was an ACL surgery during the 2012 season that knocked him out, and his recovery from that injury went well. Cushing returned at the beginning of the 2013 season playing as well as he ever has. Then he suffered another injury on the same knee while being blocked in Kansas City. His ACL remain intact, but he broke his leg and tore his lateral collateral ligament.

Having had two surgeries on the same knee in the past two seasons hasn't been easy on his knee. He's dealt with some swelling, pain and the possibility that if he continues to play without some rest his knee could get worse.

"We're going to make the best decision for myself (and) the team," Cushing said. "I think we all can agree the last couple weeks I haven't really been myself. It's been really hard on me. Any time I go out there I want to put the best of myself out there to help the team win. If it's to a point where I'm really not with my play and where I am with my health, that's what we're going to do."

Cushing will travel to Nashville with the team tomorrow and work out his knee before the game. The last two times a player has done that (Arian Foster in New York and Jadeveon Clowney in Pittsburgh) the determination that they wouldn't play came even before on-field workouts. Cushing, though, says that he's felt better with the rest he's gotten this week.

"There's nothing I want more than to play," he said. "That's the objective right now. We'll see how it goes."