The anomaly in Tampa turned into the norm for the Green Bay Packers Sunday at NRG Stadium as they rolled past the Houston Texans 35-20 to improve to 5-1 on the season. The offense looked as sharp as they had during the explosive first month of the season and the defense played with a renewed spirit as the Pack proved it takes a full roster as they were without key players on both sides of the ball.
Aaron Jones was held out with a calf injury, David Bakhtiari missed his first game in three years and the secondary played without Kevin King and Darnell Savage. And as the game wore on, players you never expected to be contributors when the season began were making plays. Malik Taylor caught his first professional touchdown and safety Henry Black, just brought on to the roster from the practice squad on Saturday, put the exclamation point on the victory with a jarring tackle in the final two minutes that forced a fumble that Adrian Amos recovered.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur still hasn’t lost back to back games and said it took a determined village, with help from cheeseheads in Houston, to get the team back on track.
For the sixth time in as many games, the Packers scored on their opening possession. Jamaal Williams, starting for Jones, took a short pass for 17 yards when his helmet got dislodged on a personal foul hit from Justin Reid. Williams got up quickly and threw his long locks about to the delight of the nearby Packer bench. The 75 yard drive was capped by Davante Adams’ three yard touchdown catch and that was just the start of the wide receiver’s huge day.
Late in the first quarter, facing third and 9, Aaron Rodgers was under pressure but lofted a sideline ball that somehow dropped in Davante’s arms for 28 yards. Adams said he never saw the ball until it hit his hands. Two plays later, Adams was wide open on a 36 yard crossing route and the Packers doubled their lead to 14-0 when tight end Jace Sternberger waltzed in with a three yard grab.
Rodgers made it a hat trick first half hitting Malik Taylor from a yard out with :14 left in the second quarter for the 21-0 lead at the break.
The Texans finally got some offense going to start the third as they drove 75 yards in 11 plays, capped by Deshaun Watson’s three yard strike to David Johnson in the back corner of the end zone.
Rodgers and Adams had an answer as Davante drew single coverage and got behind Eric Murray for a 45 yard scoring play to up Green Bay’s lead to 28-7. Adams finished with 13 receptions for a career high 196 yards and two scores.
This is where the defense rose up to help. On third and 3 from the 8, Watson was sacked by a blitzing Amos to force a 38 yard field goal.
After a second straight three and out, J.K. Scott’s punt was blocked by Buddy Howell who rushed through Dexter Williams, another Saturday call up to the roster. But rookie safety Vernon Scott held on to the ankles of Duke Johnson on third and goal from the 8 for a three yard loss and the Texans had to settle for three more. A final defensive stand was made by Preston Smith who held his ground on a read option from Watson on 4th and 1 at the Houston 47.
That offense turned that stop into their final points as Williams crashed through standing up from the one with 3:40 left to play.
The Texans got a consolation Will Fuller 6 yard touchdown catch and recovered the onside kick when the ball rolled up the middle and through the hands of Chandon Sullivan. That’s when Black, a rookie free agent safety, jarred the ball loose from David Johnson forcing the only turnover of the day.
The Packers outgained the Texans 379-365 with Rodgers, Adams and Williams doing most of the damage. Williams ran 19 times for 77 yards and caught four passes for 37 more. Rodgers finished with a passer rating of 132.4 hitting 23 of 34 for 283 yards and four scores without getting sacked. The Packers moved Billy Turner to left tackle and inserted Rick Wagner in on the right side and the unit held strong against J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus, allowing only one quarterback hit.
The Rodgers to Adams connection was clicking all day as Aaron talked about the performance and how the team was determined to not let one loss become two:
Even though he left with a shoulder injury, rookie free agent Krys Barnes led the team with 8 tackles, inlcuding one of three sacks of Watson. Za’Darius Smith and Amos had the others. Rookie Kamal Martin, just activated off the injured reserve list, started his first NFL game at the other inside linebacker spot and finished with six tackles with one behind the line of scrimmage.
For the Texans, Watson finished 29 of 39 for 309 yards and two scores for a 114.2 rating but the Packer effectively eliminated the explosive plays. Most of the completions were on underneath routes with former Packer Randall Cobb leading the way with 8 catches for 95 yards. Houston managed only 79 yards on the ground.
The inactives for the Packers were Jordan Love, Kevin King, Darnell Savage, Aaron Jones, Tyler Ervin, David Bakhtiari and Tyler Lancaster.
12,618 fans were allowed into NRG for the game, a good many of them were wearing green and gold.
The Packers have gone 5-1 with only two played at home, giving them six home dates over the final 10 weeks beginning with a rematch against the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday.
