In the NFL, there is no such thing as a good loss, but the Houston Texans can be proud of themselves for persevering against one of the top teams in the NFC. It would have been a huge victory for the Texans if newly signed kicker Brandon McManus had not hit the field goal that caused the Green Bay Packers to defeat them last season.
Unfortunately, close only applies to hand grenades and horseshoes. After falling to 5-2, the Texans must now find a way to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, who are 4-3 and on a two-game winning run after winning four of their previous five games.
But that’s a problem for another time. The Texans must now deal with their losses and determine the precise reason why their game against the Packers didn’t go as planned. Only then will they be able to make progress.
Therefore, the majority of the blame for the defeat should go to these three Texans.
Aginst theAg Packers, DeMeco Ryans has two hiccups.
Even though DeMeco Ryans didn’t participate—he didn’t play on the field again until 2008 at Lambeau—he undoubtedly contributed to this defeat. Since they are primarily intended to serve as the team’s “CEOs,” NFL head coaches typically don’t have a say in games. Although we see more of coaches having a significant influence on winning and losing in college, Ryans did have two significant occasions in this game where he let his squad down.
In the first, Ryans’ defence put pressure on Packers quarterback Jordan Love about the middle of the second quarter, forcing him to dump it off to his running back. The issue for Green Bay with the play was that Love’s pass hardly moved forward, and it was easy to argue that it was a backward pass. The Texans would have created another turnover because they had fallen on the ball.
The Packers raced up to the line and threw a touchdown pass right under Ryans’ and his staff’s noses while they were considering whether or not to dispute the play, which was subject to review.
The Texans had a difficult situation at that point, but Ryans made another poor decision later in the game when everything was on the line.
The Texans had an opportunity to grab the lead with a field goal and milk the time as they were driving at the two-minute warning. On first and second down in the red zone, they forced the Pack to take two timeouts; however, Ryans inexplicably let a passing play to pass through his headset on third and 15 from the Green Bay 17.
After stopping that play and securing a timeout, the Packers seized that opportunity to kick the game-winning field goal on the following play. Both Ryans and the Texans made a grave error.
C.J. Stroud is not competent
Like Jordan Love, his opponent in this game, C.J. Stroud will undoubtedly become a star in this league. He possesses all the physical and intangible characteristics of a modern NFL quarterback and is rarely upset. He combines his incredible arm strength with dynamic quickness and playmaking ability.
Stroud was awful against the Packers, but he will be OK. Green Bay’s defence deserves praise for pursuing him throughout the day. He was pressured on nearly every play by the Packers, who fired him four times.
Even though Stroud’s offensive line played a significant role, the rookie quarterback ultimately failed to produce the plays that we have come to expect from him.
He only completed 86 yards on 10 of 21 throws. He didn’t throw a touchdown, but he also didn’t throw an interception, whereas Love threw three. In the end, Green Bay won the game thanks to Love’s ability to recover from his errors and still produce significant plays. On Sunday, Stroud simply lacked that.
The whole offensive line of the Texans
Although this was covered in the previous point, it is still important to bring up. Against the Packers, Houston’s offensive line performed appallingly.
Stroud’s statistics were awful, to be sure, but that was because he had no space to move in the queue in front of him.
After implementing a completely new defence this offseason, Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley appears to be finally bringing his unit together, and the Texans bore the brunt of it. Every time Stroud touched the ball, he was hurried, even when he wasn’t being struck as a passer.
Although they cleared the path for 142 yards on the ground, the offensive line’s pass protection performance was far from ideal.
