Good evening, everyone. The Green Bay Packers looked for their fifth win of the season today against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. They took care of business on the road, cruising to a 35-20 win over Houston. I am here to give you my thoughts on what exactly happened in this game. Without further ado, let’s get started.
The Packers started this game on offense after Houston deferred to the second half. A hands to the face penalty against Houston nullified a third down sack of Rodgers by Whitney Mercilus. After the penalty, the Packers had no problem going down the field for the first touchdown of the game. Aaron Rodgers found Davante Adams for a three-yard TD pass that gave Green Bay an early 7-0 lead. After three straight drives (2 for Houston, 1 for Green Bay) that ended in punts, including a three and out for each team on offense, the Packers had possession with 3:10 left in the first quarter. During the drive, the Packers converted a third and 9 from their own 23 yard line with a 28-yard strike from Rodgers to Adams. 2 plays later, Adams caught the ball again and almost got all the way for a touchdown. On second and goal from the Houston 3, Rodgers found tight end Jace Sternberger for a 3-yard TD pass that increased the lead to 14-0. On Houston’s next possession, they were forced to punt again after a sack of Deshaun Watson by Za’Darius Smith put them in a long third down situation, which they did not convert. The Packers’ next drive stalled after they got to the Houston 42. Rodgers was trying to force the Texans defense to jump offside after a dropped pass by Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the previous play. That did not work, resulting in a delay of game penalty and a punt by JK Scott. The good part was that the punt pinned the Texans at their own 2 yard line. The defense did not capitalize on the safety opportunity, but they did force them to a field goal attempt after Houston drove all the way to the Packers 22 yard line. The field goal attempt by Ka’imi Fairbairn went wide to the left, keeping the score at 14-0. With 2:38 left in the first half, the Packers had a chance to get another touchdown. After converting a third and 10, the Packers had no problem moving down the field while using as much of the game clock as possible. With 18 seconds left, Rodgers found Malik Taylor for his first NFL touchdown catch (and Rodgers’ third TD pass of the day). The Packers led by a score of 21-0 at halftime.
The Packers defense did not get to a good start in the third quarter, giving up an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to Houston. The offense responded right back with another touchdown to get the lead back to 21 points. On third and 4, Aaron Rodgers threw his fourth touchdown of the day: a 45-yard catch and run by Davante Adams that gave Green Bay a 28-7 lead. Following 2 three and out drives (one by each team), the Texans were driving down the field for a potential touchdown. On third and 3 from the Green Bay 8, Adrian Amos sacked Deshaun Watson for a 12-yard loss. The sack forced Houston to settle for a 38-yard field goal that cut the lead to 18 points. After the Packers went three-and-out again, JK Scott’s punt was blocked due to Dexter Williams not protecting him enough. A hands to the face penalty on Ka’dar Hollman gave Houston possession at the Green Bay 22. Thankfully, the defense kept the Texans from scoring a touchdown and made them settle for 3 points again. After yet another three-and-out by Green Bay, the Texans had a chance to cut the lead to single digits. On third and 5 from Houston’s 43 yard line, Watson connected with Brandin Cooks for a first down. The first down was nullified because of a holding penalty on Houston. On third and 15, the defense allowed Watson to scramble for 14 yards, setting up a fourth and 1 from the 47. Preston Smith tackled Watson for a loss of one yard on fourth down, giving the Packers the ball at the Houston 46 with 6:58 left in the fourth quarter. The offense then went down the field for their final touchdown of the day. Jamaal Williams punched it in from 1 yard out to increase the lead to 35-13. After the defense gave up a touchdown in garbage time, the Packers had a chance to seal the win with an onside kick recovery. The Texans somehow recovered the onside kick, giving them another scoring opportunity. On the next play, David Johnson caught a short pass from Watson. Johnson was hit by CB Henry Black, who forced the fumble that was recovered by Adrian Amos. The fumble recovery and subsequent kneel-downs ended the game in Houston. With the 35-20 win, the Packers have improved to 5-1 on the season.
For the most part, I thought that the Packers offense played well against the Texans, despite a few three and outs. There were some great play calls by Matt Lafleur, including on a couple of touchdowns near the goal line. Aaron Rodgers had a bounce-back game with 283 yards and 4 touchdown passes with a passer rating of 132.4. Davante Adams had a great game, catching 13 passes for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jamaal Williams had a good game as well, going for a total of 114 yards on the day (77 rushing, 37 receiving) and a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was great to see Malik Taylor get his first receiving touchdown in the NFL on Sunday. In addition to that, it was great to see Rodgers celebrating with Taylor after the score. In all of their wins so far, the Packers have scored at least 30 points. Against the Texans, they did that again with 35 points. Even without David Bakhtiari, the offensive line did a great job protecting Rodgers and allowing only one QB hit. Hopefully they fix the three and out mistakes and get healthier for the rest of the season.
I thought that the defense played much better this week. The pass rush got 13 pressures and 3 sacks on the day, including a third down sack by Adrian Amos that forced Houston to settle for a field goal. Jaire Alexander held Will Fuller to 0 catches when he was covering him. Fuller had only 35 yards on the day, but he did catch one of Deshaun Watson’s 2 touchdown passes (David Johnson caught the other one). Randall Cobb, who used to play for Green Bay, led the Texans with 6 catches for 95 receiving yards. There were still some times where the defense played a little too far back for certain situations, including allowing some easy first down catches. Chandon Sullivan was good at pass coverage, but not good at getting after the QB. After a couple of near-miss turnover chances, the Packers did get the fumble recovery by Adrian Amos (forced by Henry Black). Kamal Martin had a couple of good tackles in his professional debut on Sunday. It was good to see the defense also get some three and out stops and forcing them to field goals on a couple of possessions. Hopefully they can continue to make those key stops all season long.
On Special Teams, I did not like the blocked punt and the onside kick. Other than that, the Packers did a good job against Houston. One of JK Scott’s punts pinned the Texans at their own 2 yard line. Houston did not even have a person down there for a return because they thought that the ball would go to the end zone for a touchback. There were no turnovers during a kick or punt return, which is always a good thing. Mason Crosby made all 5 of his extra point kicks, which is also a good thing. Hopefully there are no more punts by JK Scott that are blocked during this season.
Overall, it was good to see the Packers get to 5-1 on the season. Next up for Green Bay is a home matchup at Lambeau Field against the Minnesota Vikings. For right now, I want to celebrate the Packers victory. Have a good night, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page.)
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