Packers looking to bounce back as they head to Houston
The Packers look to get back to their winning ways as they get ready to take on the Houston Texans on the road at Noon Central Time.
The Packers are 4-1 but their last game was a 38-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Texans are 1-5, losing 42-36 in overtime to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday.
The Packers will get their first look at Deshaun Watson on Sunday. Watson is putting up some decent stats although the team hasn’t been winning. Will Fuller V is their leading receiver and we can’t forget that Randall Cobb is now in Houston. David Johnson, acquired in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason, is their leading rusher. This team is in the middle of the pack when it comes to scoring but they put up 36 points last Sunday in Tennessee. The Packers can’t let this team get going. They have to bring their defense, especially a pass rush. They haven’t been very good in that area lately. It’s time to turn that around.
Aaron Rodgers is coming off his worst performance of the year, but he has a great opportunity to put up some big numbers once again. The Texans are last in rushing yards allowed per game. The ground game has to get going. If that happens, this offense might be back in business. It is unclear whether David Bakhtiari will play on Sunday. Robert Tonyan’s status is also unclear. Those would be some huge losses but other players need to step up their game. Davante Adams was out and the offense still found ways to move the ball. This is not a good defense the Packers will be facing. They need to move the ball down the field and into the endzone.
The Packers are not a better team without Davante Adams but they seem to find ways to move the ball on offense in games he missed these last two seasons. They are undefeated in games without Adams, but when Adams returned from injury both last year and this year, the offense struggled and the team lost handily in their first game with him back. Whether it’s other players not stepping up or if they are just trying to force the ball to Adams too much, something needs to change on Sunday.
The last time these two teams met in Houston was in 2012. The Texans were a perfect 5-0 and the Packers were 2-3, coming off a 30-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in which they blew a big lead. Two games prior to that loss was the infamous “Fail Mary” game at Seattle. Rodgers would throw 6 touchdown passes in a 42-24 win at Houston that Sunday night. When asked after the game if Rodgers had a message for his critics, he responded with “Shhhhhhh.”
The Texans are coming off a loss this time and it was a frustrating one. Up 30-29 at Tennessee, Houston scored a touchdown to go ahead 36-29. Instead of kicking the extra point, they went for two points and missed. Tennessee scored and kicked the extra point to tie the game and scored a touchdown in overtime. It was a frustrating loss for a team that had already fired their head coach this season.
Like the Packers, the Texans came under fire for many questionable moves they made in the offseason. They traded WR DeAndre Hopkins and a draft pick to Arizona for RB David Johnson and two draft picks. Unlike the Packers, the Texans have a miserable record on the field this season and replaced Head Coach Bill O’Brien with Romeo Crennel.
The Packers are playing a team that is down right now but has guys like J.J. Watt who are more than capable of having a huge game. The Packers cannot take anything for granted. An old cliche is that you are only as good as your last game. They were dominated in Tampa last Sunday and hopefully that is a wake-up call for this team.
I expect the Packers to come out and score early and often. They did something right when they got off to a 4-0 start to the season. If they play anywhere near their best game, they will win. Let’s bounce back with a victory this Sunday and keep going from there.
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901
