Packers vs Texans Studs n Duds

[OldSchool101]

Stud:
Jeff Hafley

I can’t reiterate enough. We don’t realize what a great D effort that was. Think about this. Stroud either Rushed or Passed 26 Times. It resulted in 75 yards of NET production. Yes total.
106 Run/Pass -31 Sacked = 75 yards
It resulted in Strouds 2nd WORST passing performance of his career, but his 1st Worst NET yards

The other point that’s been mentioned but I don’t think we fully grasp. We turned the ball over THREE times. But it’s as much about WHERE it happened. The AVERAGE starting position was the GB25! This was only the 2nd career Win by MLF with a -3 Turnover differential (2020). The primary reason for that was our Defense. 22 Texans points allowed didn’t accurately reflect the position we continually put our Defense in. 17 points came off turnovers. In a more normal turnover ratio Texans might score 10-15 points and I’m being generous.

 

[AmishMafia]

All I saw was the last drive. Man starting at the 30 seems to make a big difference. I wasn't really worried about the clock but that last play before the kick seemed to drag out. Was I mistaken in hearing one of the announcers say in kind of an alarming voice "the clock is still running". I'm sure the people responsible for calling the time out were paying attention but that play seemed to be a mess.

I didn't hear the announcer say that. Maybe you heard me? 80% of the stadium was anxious and complaining. There was a murmur when Love was all casual in the shotgun. But when he walked forward and started talking, the stands got much noiser (right when we shouldnt).

We weren't worried about downs as much as time. We should have run whatever play with Love quickly throwing out of bounds if he doesn't like what he sees.

But it all worked out so maybe Love handled it better than we all were thinking.

 

[Krabs]

I didn't hear the announcer say that. Maybe you heard me? 80% of the stadium was anxious and complaining. There was a murmur when Love was all casual in the shotgun. But when he walked forward and started talking, the stands got much noiser (right when we shouldnt).

We weren't worried about downs as much as time. We should have run whatever play with Love quickly throwing out of bounds if he doesn't like what he sees.

But it all worked out so maybe Love handled it better than we all were thinking.

I was at the game as well. I heard the moans, but both me and my son were trying to tell people they were letting it run down on purpose. It was well within McMannus's range.

 

[GBkrzygrl]

Without looking at previous posts:

Studs: Jacobs, Defense, Kraft. Although Love threw 2 interceptions he also made some unbelievable passes. Especially the one to Kraft for the TD.

Gary played a fantastic game. I know people were making comments about his lack if pass rush but he really got after it yesterday. Wilson also did a fantastic job.

I thought it was cool that LaFleur gave a game ball.

And last but not least, McManus for the game winning field goal.

Duds: I can't remember who the receivers were. I think it was Reed and Wicks dropped balls. I'll give Love 1/2 dud for the 2nd interception.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Duds: Ballentine and the punt return unit.

This has plagued the Packers far too long. Guys totally unaware of where the ball is in flight and getting too close to the returner as a result. Whether it is a fair catch, one they are letting hit the ground or one they plan on returning, know where he is on the field! If I am an opposing special teams coach, I am watching the Packer film and telling my guys...."Just dance that blocker right back into the returner, he will willingly go with you".

STUDS: Defense. When you can hold the other team to just 22 points, after the 3 turnovers that the offense and special teams served up, that's a big game. Yeah, they needed to contain Mixon better, but they basically shut down Stroud and the passing game. Even better, Diggs after running his mouth in pregame, was held to 5 catches for just 23 yards.

 

[Krabs]

Studs: The defense was on point. Wilson with 2 sacks and 6 tackles. 4 TFL as well. McKinney an Gary with sacks. Williams leading the way in tackles with 6 and then 3 assisted as well. Very good defensive effort across the board.
Jacobs with his first receiving TD of his career. Doubs with 8 receptions and 94 yards. As mentioned by others, Whalen and McMannus. Whalen is just crushing the ball. McMannus clutch after not playing all season. Kraft, holy man was that concentration on that TD catch!
In between: Love, two pretty bad interceptions, but did show the poise to not let it bother him and lead them to victory when it counted most. Just can't give him a stud status because of those INTs. They were bad.
Duds: Ballentine and Nixon on punt returns. What are doing here?!? End arounds didn't work at all in this game. Not sure why we are giving them to Bo Melton. Should mainly be done with Reed. Maybe do one with Watson. They are getting predictable though. Lastly, the Packers had 8 penalties again. Gotta get that cleaned up.

Overall, a pretty fun game. I didn't think the offense played particularly well, but the defense held their own. Good team win.

 

[gopkrs]

Studs: The defense was on point. Wilson with 2 sacks and 6 tackles. 4 TFL as well. McKinney an Gary with sacks. Williams leading the way in tackles with 6 and then 3 assisted as well. Very good defensive effort across the board.
Jacobs with his first receiving TD of his career. Doubs with 8 receptions and 94 yards. As mentioned by others, Whalen and McMannus. Whalen is just crushing the ball. McMannus clutch after not playing all season. Kraft, holy man was that concentration on that TD catch!
In between: Love, two pretty bad interceptions, but did show the poise to not let it bother him and lead them to victory when it counted most. Just can't give him a stud status because of those INTs. They were bad.
Duds: Ballentine and Nixon on punt returns. What are doing here?!? End didn't work at all in this game. Not sure why we are giving them to Bo Melton. Should mainly be done with Reed. Maybe do one with Watson. They are getting predictable though. Lastly, the Packers had 8 penalties again. Gotta get that cleaned up.

Overall, a pretty fun game. I didn't think the offense played particularly well, but the defense held their own. Good team win.

Those end runs by the receivers are predictable and the defense is waiting on them. I don't like to see Watson running them though. He just looks like an injury waiting to happen. If the play was totally clear; he could take one to the house. But they aren't clear. And Melton could run it if, like you say, it wasn't so predictable. I would actually like to see Nixon run one. That would really be predictable except when you use him as a decoy. Just don't like to see the tall lanky receivers run that play. I wonder if Kraft or Musgrave could run one. Nice post.

 

[Thirteen Below]

I thought it was cool that LaFleur gave a game ball.

That Lafleur gave who a game ball? Wilson? Did he get one?

 

[OldSchool101]

That Lafleur gave who a game ball? Wilson? Did he get one?

Gave one to Hafley

 

[OldSchool101]

This is easily the worst game they've played this season, and I hope to god it stays that way. In fact, I think it's the worst game they've played in almost a full calendar year, since early November 23. I just pray they learn from it.

I gave you a “Like”. Mostly because this game was so up n down dynamic that you could argue it was our best D performance. We have to remember this was against a team putting up 24 points per game so they are not a slouch. Also our Defense could have very arguably played its best football when you factor in they kept getting thrown on the field in bad field position. 2 X at the GB 11 and another 1 immediately after making a good Stop (Ballentine Muffed punt)

Their front is crazy good - which is why they were able to give us so many fits and their secondary while banged up is still solid

Yep. When I relooked Texans are ranked
#2 Yards allowed
#4 Passing allowed
#9 Rushing allowed.
We bumped them back from #16 to #17 in points allowed by putting up 24

Yeah, they needed to contain Mixon better, but they basically shut down Stroud and the passing game.

I thought similar. A few series we got gashed by their Run. We kinda picked our poison there, but ultimately it led to a near record performance in the passing game. If you had told me we would hold Stroud n Co to 197 total output beforehand, I’d be impressed. To display how good that is? Our Defense would rank #1 in the NFL by a wide 75 yards margin in yards allowed. The only thing Houston could do was run some, even then it was a pretty normal yards per carry

 

[tynimiller]

I gave you a “Like”. Mostly because this game was so up n down dynamic that you could argue it was our best D performance. We have to remember this was against a team putting up 24 points per game so they are not a slouch. Also our Defense could have very arguably played its best football when you factor in they kept getting thrown on the field in bad field position. 2 X at the GB 11 and another 1 immediately after making a good Stop (Ballentine Muffed punt)

Yep. When I relooked Texans are ranked
#2 Yards allowed
#4 Passing allowed
#9 Rushing allowed.
We bumped them back from #16 to #17 in points allowed by putting up 24

I thought similar. A few series we got gashed by their Run. We kinda picked our poison there, but ultimately it led to a near record performance in the passing game. If you had told me we would hold Stroud n Co to 197 total output beforehand, I’d be impressed. To display how good that is? That would rank #1 in the NFL by a wide 75 yards margin

I figured with Stingley following Romeo we'd see a massive day out of Watson and Company.....I don't think people realize how GOOD Romeo was this game.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I like how the Packer defense is progressively getting better and better each week It would have been nice to get a few turnovers yesterday, but I don't think the score was a good reflection on just how good the defense is playing. The best way to highlight it is by taking a look at CJ Stroud's numbers for each game this season (below). Yup, Mixon gained way too many yards, but for the most part, they didn't really hurt us, at least as much as the 3 turnovers. Remove those 3 mistakes and I doubt the Texans score more than 10 points.

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[shockerx]

Got to see some more film today Wow. Evan Williams is it....Ill say it, he's a pro bowler.

 

[tynimiller]

Got to see some more film today Wow. Evan Williams is it....Ill say it, he's a pro bowler.

He did lay a couple eggs on a few coverage snaps but all in all he right now looks to be the best draft pick of our last draft, and that is saying something because Bullard has in essence been getting starting snaps from day 1...and Cooper is pushing hard for more too.

 

[Outsider99]

It seems that J love is scared to get hit when he throws the bad passes. Favre was never scared of contact. Yes Favre has allot of career INTs but that's because he played forever and never missed games.
If Jacobs gets more touches and Love can work on his game, I think the offense will get better. But I hope they find a return guy because I Don't want reed getting hurt.

On defense we are not in the top 10. I would like to see a safety blitz.

McManus is the veteran kicker we always needed.
Awesome walk off win!

 

[tynimiller]

It seems that J love is scared to get hit when he throws the bad passes. Favre was never scared of contact. Yes Favre has allot of career INTs but that's because he played forever and never missed games.
If Jacobs gets more touches and Love can work on his game, I think the offense will get better. But I hope they find a return guy because I Don't want reed getting hurt.

On defense we are not in the top 10. I would like to see a safety blitz.

McManus is the veteran kicker we always needed.
Awesome walk off win!

By a lot of metrics we are in fact in the Top 10.

 

[Don Barclay]

On defense we are not in the top 10. I would like to see a safety blitz.

Hope you liked McKinney's blitz -- I know I did!

 

[Magooch]

Sloppy, sloppy game, but a win is a win. As much as we'd like them all to be wire-to-wire wins like last week, it's a good thing to be able to win ugly when you need to, too.

Studs:
Whelan, defense in general, Jacobs

Duds:
Special teams outside of punting (tho shoutout to McManus), Love was a bit too careless IMO, and in general I feel like as a team we are still pretty undisciplined

 

[milani]

All I saw was the last drive. Man starting at the 30 seems to make a big difference. I wasn't really worried about the clock but that last play before the kick seemed to drag out. Was I mistaken in hearing one of the announcers say in kind of an alarming voice "the clock is still running". I'm sure the people responsible for calling the time out were paying attention but that play seemed to be a mess.

I thought they may do a booth review. But on the field they called it down by contact.

 

[milani]

I was at the game as well. I heard the moans, but both me and my son were trying to tell people they were letting it run down on purpose. It was well within McMannus's range.

And we all knew the Texans would ice him.

 

[Thirteen Below]

Duds:
Special teams outside of punting (tho shoutout to McManus), Love was a bit too careless IMO, and in general I feel like as a team we are still pretty undisciplined

Something that's crossed my mind a few times this season, and really really stood out to me yesterday, is that this young team ofen looks as though the spectacular success they all had together the last half of 23 went to their heads, and on some level they're taking it for granted. I think many of them may still be too young and inexperienced to realize how rare an achivement like that was in the NFL, and how disciplined a team has to be and how hard a team usually has to work in order to make that happen.

I hope I'm wrong, because that's a very bad state of mind for a team to fall into, but I don't think i am. I've seen something very similar happen a couple of times in hockey, and it's a tough pattern to break out of. Hopefully, yesterday was a kick in the *** wake-up call that they need to play smarter and more disciplined ball; it's starting to get a little worrisome that Lafleur doesn't seem to be having any luck getting this message across.

 

[Thirteen Below]

Was I mistaken in hearing one of the announcers say in kind of an alarming voice "the clock is still running". I'm sure the people responsible for calling the time out were paying attention but that play seemed to be a mess.

Yeah, Romo shouted that pretty loudly at 5 seconds - "time is running!!!" Then they stopped it immediately after that.

 

[Thirteen Below]

When you can hold the other team to just 22 points, after the 3 turnovers that the offense and special teams served up, that's a big game.

Take away those 3 turnpvers, and the 16 points they scored off of red zone turnovers, and this isn't just a 10 or 12 point win - it's closer to 30+. We scored on 4 out of 9 possessions, so it's likely we would have scored once or twice more had we not given away the ball. Especially on that first drive - we were rolling, and Houston had no answer for us those first few plays.

We could have easily ran up 30+ points while holding them to 10 or even fewer. That'd be a hell of a statement game.

Yeah, they needed to contain Mixon better, but they basically shut down Stroud and the passing game.

There was a Texans fan posting in here a little, and he was just stunned. He said he'd never seen anyone do that to Stroud before.

That was exactly what I've been hoping to see from this defense ever since Hafley was announced. I figured it would take a month or two to hit their stride, but damn, it looks like it's finally coming together. If this is what we can expect to see in most games the rest of this year, we'll be playing almost until spring.

Oh, one other thing.... a colossal DUD:

Am I the only one who noticed how close that long snapper came to blowing the game for us? We're all doing the happy happy dance because Macmanus won the game, but that second snap was absolutely horrible. Everyone's giving credit to Whelan for saving it (and rightfully so), but we were very fortunate he was able to.

Makes me wonder how many of Carlson's and Narveson's problems might have been the snap sometimes. We talked about that a lot last year, but I don't think I've seen any mention of it yet this season.

 

[gopkrs]

I thought they may do a booth review. But on the field they called it down by contact.

And that was the right call

 

[Poppa San]

Only 1 stud lol

You think like my wife.

3. Defense offsides 3 times, 7 games into the season and these undisciplined penalties are happening way too often.

The offsides were trying to use the tells by the center when the snap was coming. Missed it by just that much all three times.

I think in the 2 minute offense he took a good 15 seconds to call the play at the line. You have to be quicker than that. But it worked out and he got us in FG range.

As long as they get to the 50 with a minute left, I always feelt they were in good shape. I think AR12 once said that was the goal in the 2 minute.

Should mainly be done with Reed. Maybe do one with Watson.

They did one with Watson and like the rest, he was stuffed. Reed I believe was not fully healthy.