Notes from the victory over the Texans

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Houston Texans offered the biggest test of the year to the Green Bay Packers.

The Texans entered Lambeau Field with a 5-1 record. Whether this is a sign of the talent they have in Green Bay or more of an indication of how much was lacking in Houston, the Packers passed the big test. They beat Houston 24-22 despite being minus-3 in the comeback battle.

This day belonged to Jeff Hafley’s pass defense, which stifled Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.

He got a game ball from Matt LaFleur, and that unit got the highest grade in our weekly Packers report card.

Pass Offense

The highs? They’re high on Jordan Love.

His touchdown passes to Dontayvion Wicks and Tucker Kraft in the first half were the best you’ll see all season.

The low points? They are also quite low.

Love has been a turnover machine. He tied and passed Will Levis for the NFL lead in interceptions during the first half. This statistic is even more shocking when you factor in the two games Love missed.

Love’s shooting leads to some big plays for the Packers, but there are a lot of mistakes that accumulate in games like this when the margin for error is small.

Love also struggled with turnovers early in the 2023 season. He took much better care of the ball down the stretch as the Packers’ offense lit up the league en route to a surprise appearance in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Big plays are great, but against teams like the Texans, taking care of the ball is even more important than it is on a weekly basis.

LaFleur says taking care of the ball is the quarterback’s top priority. Love didn’t do a good enough job at her first job.

The pass protection, which was good early, began to wane late against Houston’s powerful pass rushers.

The Packers had multiple chances to go up two scores while leading 21-19, but were unable to do so due to an inability to block Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr.

Love threw three touchdown passes, including the 50th of his career, which coincided with Josh Jacobs’ first career touchdown.

Sometimes, all it takes is one trip to flip the script on how your day went.

Because of his late game drive, Love’s highs outweighed the lows.

Grade: B

hasty offense

The horizontal running game with receivers Bo Melton, Christian Watson and Jayden Reed left a lot to be desired.

It seemed like LaFleur and Love went to the well too often with the subtle running game outside of their running backs.

A big mistake occurred on a third-and-1 late in the third quarter.

Love appeared to signal his helmet to change the play. Instead of a down with Jacobs, it was an end for Reed, who was impaled by Neville Hewitt.

Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson found success on downs against a short-handed Texans defense. They finished the game with 17 carries for 87 yards, highlighted by Jacobs’ back-to-back runs of 10 and 27 yards for a touchdown that put them up 21-19 in the third quarter.

The other three runs had three runs of minus 5 yards.

Jacobs is someone Green Bay could count on when the calendar turns to November. On Sunday, it seemed like I should have supported him more.

Grade: B

Pass defense

This game was billed as a showdown between two of the best young defenders in football.

Stroud was the task of Hafley and his defense.

No, the Texans were without their best receiver, Nico Collins. Yes, that probably would have changed things.

Collins or not, Houston’s offense is very powerful, and Stroud is good enough to single-handedly lead his team to victory.

Hafley’s defense put him in some dark spots through the first three quarters.

Stroud finished the game 10-of-21 passing for 86 yards. He was sacked four times, so Houston finished with just 55 net yards.

Green Bay’s pressure packages and coverage schemes were excellent.

One problem would be the lack of discipline among pass rushers. Preston Smith, Kenny Clark and Kingsley Enagbare were flagged for neutral zone violations, including a big one on Enagbare on third-and-5 on Houston’s final scoring drive. That drive ended in a chip field goal after Stroud made a brilliant throw on third-and-11 to backup receiver Xavier Hutchinson.

Still, of all phases, Hafley’s pass defense was by far the best unit on the field. In fact, it was one of the best performances by Green Bay’s defense in recent memory.

It was so good that LaFleur gave Hafley a game ball.

Grade: A

Rush Defense

Houston’s attack didn’t find much space to move in the first half, with one big exception: on any play, the ball ended up in Joe Mixon’s hands.

Mixon had 11 carries for 81 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He stabbed Green Bay defenders with relative ease as Houston continued to feed him.

In the second half, the Packers increased their control. Mixon collected 10 carries in the fourth quarter and was held to 26 yards. He couldn’t close the deal late in the game.

If the Texans could have gotten one more first down off Mixon’s legs, they could have gone all the way before Fairbairn’s field goal. Instead, back-to-back tackles for loss were set up on third-and-15. Stroud’s pass was incomplete, stopping the clock short of the field goal.

Overall, Mixon finished with 115 yards on 25 carries.

It wasn’t a great performance, but they made enough plays late in the game to get the ball back for the offense.

Grade: C

Special Teams

The Packers made a big change this week at kicker, with Brandon McManus replacing the inconsistent Brayden Narveson.

McManus’ debut was met with thunderous ovations as he scored his first two extra points.

Everything around you? This was a disaster for Rich Bisaccia’s unit.

Keisean Nixon made one of the biggest mistakes of the game with the team leading 7-3 and forcing a three and out on defense.

On the kick, Nixon backed away at the last possible second. No fair catch signal, no call to move his teammates away from the ball. The ball ricocheted off Corey Ballentine and was recovered by Houston’s MJ Stewart at Green Bay’s 11.

They had a penalty called on Arron Mosby that took away Nixon’s big comeback on the kickoff.

After a touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks to take a 14-10 lead, Bisaccia’s unit gave up a 41-yard return to Dameon Pierce to put the Texans in business.

Jayden Reed hit a shot that took him into the end zone. Instead of a touchback, he was tackled at the 4.

Against a team like Houston, which has been the best special teams unit in the NFL the last two years according to Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings, the Packers needed to be at their best.

They were decidedly not at their best.

Until the end of the game.

With the game on the line, Daniel Whelan and McManus saved Green Bay’s bacon. Whelan caught a terrible snap and McManus kicked a 45-yard field goal as time expired.

Would the Packers have made that shot last week? Who knows.

The Packers don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Grade: C

Training

LaFleur is a very good coach. There’s no way to discuss that at this point. He racked up regular-season wins at a rate few coaches have seen.

That being said, his team has made a lot of mistakes this season. They are the youngest team in the championship, but there are simple mistakes that have not been corrected.

LaFleur’s decision to get the ball after winning the coin toss backfired after Love was intercepted.

In a battle between two of the best coaches in the NFL, it appeared that Houston’s DeMeco Ryans once again got the better of LaFleur simply due to the lack of discipline and general sloppiness demonstrated by LaFleur’s team.

LaFleur essentially admitted as much after the game.

“I never felt comfortable as a player,” LaFleur said.

The team has already played seven matches. Right now, penalties and sloppy mistakes are a trend.

Hafley’s defense, all things considered, was excellent, other than a few runs by Mixon.

They held Stroud to less than 100 yards. All of Houston’s points in the first half came from turnovers or a big comeback on special teams.

Ultimately, LaFleur and Love were able to put something together to lead the effort to win the game.

On this day, however, Hafley is the only coach saving the team from a low mark.

Grade: C

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