Houston Texans Media Conference

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Houston, Texas, USA

Nico Collins

Postgame Press Conference


TITANS 28, TEXANS 25

Q. Hey, Nico. Some of the things that you and Davis did together as rookies, what do you think about that collaboration and the opportunity you guys will have together in the future to play together?

NICO COLLINS: Yeah, I'm excited for the future, what the future holds for everybody. As I said, this year was a year of habits. I want to build a lot of habits, a great foundation, a routine. I feel like this year was about that and opportunity. When opportunity comes, take advantage of it, have fun with it. At the end of the day it's playing football. I feel like this year everybody, the rookie class coming in, it was the first year. It's a lot on your plate, but it's really how you balance it. You've got to find that balance, man, and I feel like that's what we all did. When the time came, when it got hard, we all just leaned on each other, and that's what we signed up for. That's what we want to do. I feel like that helped out a lot, just having each other there. Everybody feeling the same way, man, the whole team. It's mentally just got to dig deep, man, and keep pushing. I feel like we didn't finish the way we wanted to, but I feel like we left the field today with a great feeling for the future.

Q. Davis was saying that he would like to recruit some guys to hang out with him here in the offseason. Assuming he wouldn't have to sell you too hard on that.

NICO COLLINS: My plan was to come back regardless to Houston for the offseason. Davis is coming back, so it's perfect. We're going to build from there, work out together, and keep stacking, man. Just improve. See ways to get better from this year. What ways can we get better for next year and to improve on our game, so I feel like that's what this offseason is about, man. Just getting better.

Q. You had a couple of jump ball catches today. Could you take us through those and what those were like in the middle of this one?

NICO COLLINS: I've been catching balls my whole life. A ball is in the air; go attack it. See ball; get ball. That's pretty much what's going through my head. Go make a play, free team. Just have fun with it, man. Davis trusts me. Coaches trust me. The ball comes my way, and that's what I did.

Q. What's the difference in the feeling when you are going out on an offense knowing that you are going to go uptempo and that you are going to be passing on early downs?

NICO COLLINS: You said what's the mindset?

Q. What's the difference in how you feel going into on the field when you know that going in.

NICO COLLINS: When we've got to score, hurry up offense. It's times you got to be sharp. I would say that time is no time for errors, no penalties because we're playing fast. We're trying to get on the board, but once we slow down and get in huddle, communicate things in the huddle, man, there's a difference, but when it's time to -- you know when it's time to go score, we got to hurry up. We know what it takes. We know what type of energy you need, and so I feel like that's what we did today.

Q. Nico, what would you say with your rookie year completed now, what would you say is the biggest adjustment as a rookie wide receiver?

NICO COLLINS: The biggest adjustment, man, just coming from college to NFL, everybody is good. You can't just beat everybody with skills. It comes down to small details, man. I feel like throughout the year, that's what the vets in my role really helped me out a lot and R.P. just telling me, man, just keep going, keep building. Any question I needed, they were always there for me. Always in my corner. Always, man, throughout the year since day one. I appreciate them guys a lot because I feel like without them, ain't no telling, ain't no telling. I appreciate them guys being in my corner all year, and I appreciate them a lot, for sure.

Q. What stood out to you about David Culley as a head coach this season?

NICO COLLINS: The season didn't go as we wanted to, but Culley is a great coach, man. We love him. He bring the juice. He picks us up when we're down. He is a great coach. I love him a lot. Appreciate him. Everything he did this year and looking for the future, for sure.

Q. Nico, when you look at Brandin leaving and then you guys having to come up in the second half without him, for a rookie who now has over ten starts in a game, did you feel a little bit more comfortable taking on a bigger role now that you actually understand and have the cadence with Davis?

NICO COLLINS: Yeah. Once Cooks went down, it was next man up. We missed him out there, but once a guy goes down, we can't miss a beat. That was the mindset. We've got to keep going. It sucked not having him out there and Chris Conley. I wanted share the feeling with them, but they had issues. Some things went down. Next man up. That's all that went. Mindset has to change now. It's time to go. That's all the mindset was.

Appreciate you guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
116059-1-1878 2022-01-09 22:56:00 GMT

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