Barwin had his best game of the season last week. (US Presswire)

Connor Barwin had a breakout season last year, recording 11.5 sacks for a Houston squad that went to the playoffs for the first time in the organization’s history. This year has been more of a struggle for the Texans outside linebacker, who earned his first sack in last week’s Baltimore game.

We caught up with Barwin earlier this week before the team scattered for its bye week (Barwin is going home to Michigan so he can catch his Detroit Tigers play in the World Series), and we discussed how much the organization has changed since he entered the league, how the team is dealing with the loss of Brian Cushing and why he supports marriage equality.

Previous Five Questions (or more):

Sept. 14: Former quarterback, author Dan Pastorini

Sept. 21: "Head Games" director Steve James

Sept. 28: Vikings kicker Blair Walsh

Oct. 5: Cardinals linebacker Sam Acho

1. CBSSports.com: I think after the Green Bay game two weeks ago, people on a national level were wondering if you guys were as good as they had thought. What did beating the Ravens as badly as you did do for you guys?

Connor Barwin: We went out there and played good football for five weeks and then we went out against the Packers and made a bunch of uncharacteristic mistakes, and we did it against a talented team that took advantage. But there was no panic here. We felt like we’re still a good defense, still a good team. But we had to respond [last Sunday].

2. CBS: Obviously, you guys are young and talented on defense with you, J.J. Watt, Brooks Reed and Johnathan Joseph. But what did losing Brian Cushing mean to you? I mean, the way you guys played against the Packers, it seemed like losing Cushing was a huge deal.

Barwin: That’s why [the Ravens game] was really important. Obviously, Cushing is a leader for us – emotionally -- and a great player for us on defense. The first game without him, we didn’t play well. Obviously, we miss him out here. But we didn’t necessarily play that way just because he wasn’t there. It might have looked like it was because Cushing wasn’t there. If we played the same way again, it would be like, “Oh no, we’re not the same without Cushing.” Now we know we can move on.

CBS: Well, you guys lost Mario Williams last year. And you lost Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson on the other side of the ball. At least you guys know you could lose some of your best players and still do well enough to make the playoffs.

Barwin: Yeah, like you said, we learned that last year. But that goes back to (defensive coordinator) Wade Phillips and (Gary) Kubiak. It happened last year with Mario, and Kubiak didn’t allow us to use that as an excuse. We still remember that from last year dealing with Cushing this year.

3. CBS: You guys are a much different franchise than when you came into the league as a rookie in 2009. Gary Kubiak was on the hot seat, and you guys had one of the worst defenses in the league. You’ve seen how different it is from then to now.

Barwin: It’s a lot different. The biggest difference is with Wade Phillips. He gives us kind of a confidence we didn’t have on defense when I was first here. It always seemed like it was an offensive team, and Kubiak was an offensive head coach. There’s much more of a balance now. We’re a whole team. We win together, and we never know if we’re going to need the offense or defense to win the game. There’s an atmosphere now that everybody has to do their part.

CBS: Is it a sense that everybody is more comfortable now?

Barwin: I don’t know if it’s more comfortable. Obviously, it’s better when you’re winning games. There’s just more confidence that you get that directly comes from Wade Phillips.

4. CBS: It took you forever to get that first sack of the season. Must have been nice to finally get one. And making it a safety on Joe Flacco, no less.

Barwin: For me, personally, that was huge. I felt like I’ve been doing the same things I did last year, playing hard and rushing the passer the same. But things haven’t been going my way. Finally getting it going was huge for my confidence. You could see that when I first got that first sack of the year, I was starting to hit the quarterback much more. When you’re playing with confidence, you’re going to keep playing well.

5. CBS: In the past year or so, there’s really been a lot of NFL players talking about the possibilities of a gay teammate and promoting the idea of gay marriage. You’ve got Chris Kluwe in Minnesota, a bunch of the 49ers did an “It gets better" video, and Brendon Ayanbadejo in Baltimore. Is there a shift more toward acceptance than you’ve felt before?

Barwin: I’ve talked about this and come out in support of marriage equality. I’ve been in the NFL four years. It’s not talked about that much, but in society, it comes in at a personal level. We’ve got 53 guys in our locker room. I bet 40 have a cousin or a brother or a sister that’s gay. Once you know somebody on that personal level, you realize none of it is a big deal.

CBS: Does it compel you to speak because you have a gay brother?

Barwin: I don’t feel compelled to do it. I just do it because it’s the right thing to do. I would hope that even if I didn’t have a gay brother, I still would support the same thing.  

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