We've got a big one today at Lambeau as the Green Bay Packers will welcome the Houston Texans for a showdown of two teams with aspirations to end their season with a trip to New Orleans in early February. Kickoff is slated for noon today as the 4-2 Packers will be looking to defend Lambeau Field wearing their new white-out uniforms after a 34-13 trouncing of the Arizona Cardinals, hoping to keep their winning ways rolling. The Texans at 5-1 are coming off a big 41-21 win in Foxboro against the New England Patriots which was their first definitive win this season as the previous four were each decided by less than six points. Both teams will be a bar-setter for each other to show where they currently stand over the other top teams in the league. This will be only the sixth regular season match-up between the two teams since the Texans' first NFL season in 2002. 

The last time these two teams met was in Houston where the Packers were victorious in a late October game with a 35-20 final score. The Packers improved to 5-1 with the Texans falling to 1-6 in a game that saw Aaron Rodgers throw for 283 yards and four touchdowns. Davante Adams was on the receiving end of two of those as he himself had a huge game being on the receiving end of 196 of those 283 passing yards. On the Texans' side, Deshaun Watson had 309 yards passing with two touchdowns and former Packer Randall Cobb was on the receiving end of 95 of those yards. The Packers got off to a 21-0 lead at halftime which became 28-7 by the end of the third quarter as the Packers cruised to what ended up being an easy victory. 

Last week may have been as close to a complete victory as the Packers have been all season. On offense, both the passing and running game looked good most of the game with the only real mistake being a Jordan Love interception that was more luck for the Cardinals than an issue for the Packers. Getting out to a 24-0 lead before giving up any points to Arizona made Arizona pretty one-dimensional early on. I was initially nervous about the Cardinals running all over the Packers and Marvin Harrison Jr. taking the lid off the top whenever needed in the passing game. But with the concussion Harrison Jr. suffered early taking him out of the game, and the Packers running away on the scoreboard, none of that happened at all. It was a big win for the Green and Gold to hopefully carry the momentum to an even greater challenge this week. 

Today in the first "Winter Warning" game with the Packers donning all-white uniforms, hopefully, they can ground the Texans and move to 5-2. 

What to see on Offense

Last week, the Packers' offense could impose their will on the Cardinals' defense. With zero sacks against them, the offensive line gave Jordan Love enough time to take a sip of coffee before finding the open receiver. And it showed with Love throwing for 258 yards and four touchdowns with only one INT. But, this week, Love may have to leave his coffee on the sidelines and get the ball out a bit quicker this week, but he'll be doing it against a Houston defense missing a lot of starters. 

The Houston Texans have sacked opposing Quarterbacks 19 times this season with the tandem of defensive ends, Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunder leading the way with 8 sacks between them. With around 50 total QB pressures between the two, if the Packers want to do anything in the passing game, blocking those two needs to be their priority. Luckily for the Packers, they have a top tandem to face them as tackles Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom rank in the top 15 for pass-blocking in the league so far. It will surely be a big battle in the trenches to watch today. 

The Texans' secondary is no slouch either, but they will be without two starters in safety Jimmie Ward and rookie cornerback, Kamari Lassiter. With those two, the Texans are ranked fourth in the league in passing yards allowed per game and first in opponent completion percentage. Losing those two starters will play a factor in this game allowing a Packers' passing game that's gotten off to a good rhythm the last few games to continue that trend. Outside of Ward and Lassiter, the Texans have another promising rookie in safety Calen Bullock who leads the team with two of the teams' five interceptions. The Texans' secondary is a formidable opponent for Jordan Love and the Packers' pass offense, but with two starters missing on the Texans' side, it could open up. 

The Packers' pass catchers have been a bit banged up with Tucker Kraft, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, and Dontayvion Wicks appearing on the injury list with limited practice participation, but they will all be ready to go today. When it comes to the Packers passing game, it could very well come down to which squad is healthier and how well they can protect Jordan Love against a great pass rush. I wouldn't be surprised to see the ball come out of Love's hands quickly to negate that pass rush often. 

Now to the running game. I don't think the Packers could be any more satisfied with their 2nd ranked rushing attack so far this season. Unless of course they were ranked number 1. Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson have formed a great rushing tandem and today they will face a Texans defense that's kind of in the middle of the rankings when it comes to defending the run. They've given up two 100-yard games to running backs this season against Aaron Jones and Tank Bigsby and today could be another. With the Texans having an outstanding pass rush, running Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson at them consistently will keep them honest and would open up the pass. 

Texans linebacker, Henry To'o To'o leads the team in tackles with 46, but after suffering a concussion this past week, he has not practiced and will be missing from the lineup today. He will likely be replaced by Jake Hansen or Del'Shawn Phillips who haven't seen a lot of action this season. Fellow linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair isn't too far behind To'o To'o on the tackle stat sheet with 40 and will also be out Sunday. This could benefit Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson when they reach the second level and head into the secondary pulling off any big-time runs.

What does that CHTV T-shirt say again? Oh yeah, RUN THE F&$#ING BALL!

The Texans have not been a good play-action defense this season so with their starting linebackers and veteran safety out, the Packers will have many opportunities to exploit the Texans' defense in the middle of the field if they can prevent the edge rushers from wrecking the game. 

What to See on Defense

Last week I thought the Packers' defense had their work cut out for them and would be challenged by the Cardinals' offense. Well, obviously a 34-13 final score with three turnovers told me I was wrong. One reason could have been due in part to Marvin Harrison Jr's early exit from the game with a concussion. He's an electric player, but I'm not so sure he's 21 extra points electric to have drastically changed the outcome of that game. Today, the Packers face a better offense that likely won't falter with the loss of one receiver. 

CJ Stroud stepped onto the scene his rookie season brilliantly and he's following it up with a so far electric second season throwing for 1,577 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. Houston gave him a great complement of weapons as well bringing in Joe Mixon at running back and Stefon Diggs at wide receiver. Stroud's top target so far this season has been Nico Collins, who's already halfway to 1K yards receiving on the season but Collins was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury and the Packers will be fortunate to not face him today. 

Collins isn't the only receiving threat though as Packer fans should be familiar with Stefon Diggs. Yep, the same Stefon Diggs that spent five years with the Vikings and four years with the Bills and had many fun little run-ins with Jaire Alexander. Diggs has a team-high 37 receptions for 392 yards and three touchdowns and his targets can only increase with the loss of Collins. I've heard some talk this week about how the last time Diggs and Jaire met, Diggs went for six catches, 108 yards, and a touchdown. Well, that's simply not as true as you think as the two never lined up against each other in that game. Diggs mainly drew the coverage of Rasul Douglas in that match and Alexander never got the chance to face him. Well, that was with a Joe Barry-run defense where it seemed like he never wanted to match Jaire up with the top WR. I would anticipate Jaire shadows Diggs as much as possible this time around. 

Receiver Tank Dell and tight end Dalton Schultz are also good options for CJ Stroud that the Packers will have to account for today in the passing game. As I said before, the Packers are fortunate Nico Collins isn't available for this one as he could help open up the offense for the Texans tremendously. But without his presence, the Packers may have a chance at limiting the impact of Stroud in this game. They're going to get points, but the Packers will have to do their best to limit how many. 

The Packers pass rush has been good this season, but that's mainly been just in terms of pressure. We've gotten lots of pressure on opposing QBs but getting home has been the issue. CJ Stroud has been sacked 16 times so far this season. This could be another opportunity for the Packers edge rushers to get home and pad those sack stats. 

And now to the run. The Packers' rush defense hasn't made me cringe as much this season as in seasons past. *knocks on wood* Houston ranks 13th in rushing offense with an excellent stable of running backs in Joe Mixon, Dameon Pierce, and Dare Ogunbowale. If they're so good, why are they only ranked middle of the pack? Well, both Mixon and Pierce have missed about a month of action due to injury. In their absence, the Texans' backfield was mainly occupied by Cam Akers who has since been traded to the Minnesota Vikings. They're better than they're currently ranked for sure. Last week against New England, Mixon ran for 102 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown and Pierce ran for 76 yards on 8 carries and a touchdown. So, they're capable of so much more than they've shown. 

Houston's offense is going to be a big test for the Packers' defense today. If the Packers give the Texans the run, they're going to stick with it all day. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. In my opinion, the Packers stifled the Cardinal's running game due to the fact that the Packers got off to a big lead early and they had to pass. Perhaps that's the best thing for the Packers in this one. Make sure the offense capitalizes on all chances to get out to an early lead and make the Houston offense one-dimensional. Perhaps force a turnover or two to steal a few possessions and then we should be in good shape for this game. 

Extra Notes

Every week I've talked about either a terrible game or a decent game for Brayden Narveson. Well, those days are now over after the Packers released Narveson and signed veteran Brandon McManus. Last year in the 2023 season, McManus was 30/37 on field goal attempts and 35/35 on extra points. He may not be a huge upgrade, but the Packers are hopeful that going in a veteran direction for kicker will pay off for at least the remainder of the season. 

Keisean Nixon got to return two kicks! For the first time since the season opener in Brazil, the Packers got the opportunity to return two kickoffs. Nixon averaged 30 yards per return with one going for 37 yards. I somewhat doubt Houston will want to purposely kick to him, but you never know, Nixon could become a weapon again if the ball doesn't just sail into the endzone again. 

Due to a brief injury evaluation to Jayden Reed, Keisean Nixon got the opportunity to return two punts as well. One of which he took for 39 yards setting up a one-play touchdown scoring drive for the Packers offense. Both Nixon and Reed are weapons on offense and defense respectively. But, I think I would like to see Nixon on punt returns more often than Reed. I'd be okay keeping Reed on offense and letting Keisean Nixon roll with punt returns again. 

In the End

This will be another big test for this Packers team to see how they stack up against one of the best teams in the AFC. Their first big test came against Minnesota which they struggled early but put it together late, however, it was a bit too little, too late. Also, Jordan Love was arguably not 100% at all in that game which made it hard to truly measure the two teams. But today will be much different than that week 4 game as the Packers are much healthier on both sides of the ball than they were at that time. 

It's another game for the Lambeau faithful to get loud and hopefully cheer on the Packers to raise the bar on their season expectations with a big win over Houston today. Go Pack Go.