Paul Bretl | 10/17/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Something will have to give on Sunday with the Packers’ offense coming off its best performance of the season against Arizona, taking on one of the stingiest defenses in football in the Houston Texans.
“I’m just starting to get into them now,” said Matt LaFleur on Monday, “but it’s one of the, just statistically, just looking at the numbers one of the top ranked defenses in the league right now. I think they’re top-five in most of the categories, so it will be a great challenge for us.”
Houston’s success on defense often begins with the play of their defensive front, where they’ve been one of the most disruptive units in football. In terms of pressure rate of the quarterback, the Texans enter Week 7 ranked 10th in that category. They are also fifth in sacks and rank fourth by ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric.
Leading the way for this Houston front are edge rushers Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, both of whom rank in the top 10 among their position group in total pressures generated this season. Along the interior, Tim Settle and Mario Edwards also rank in the top 30 in pressures among all defensive tackles.
“What strikes me is their style of play, how hard and fast they get off the ball,” added LaFleur. “Will Anderson, he’s a force. They’ve got (Danielle) Hunter there now, but collectively as a unit I think the whole D-line does a great job.”
The trickle-down effect of having a disruptive pass rush is the impact that then has on the passing game. Constantly putting the quarterback under pressure disrupts the timing and rhythm of the play, leading to errant throws and mistakes. On the year, the 5.4 yards per pass attempt the Houston secondary is surrendering is the fourth-lowest in football.
Just two weeks ago, Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen was just 9-for-30 passing against the Texans, averaging 4.4 yards per attempt. Other quarterbacks haven’t fared much better. Trevor Lawrence was 18-for-33 for 173 yards, Sam Darnold was 17-for-28 for 181 yards, and Caleb Williams was 23-for-37 for 174 yards passing against Houston.
“They are definitely a very good defense, I think all around,” said Jordan Love on Wednesday. “They got very good players everywhere, so I think it all starts up front. They got a really good D-line, some good edge rushers and yeah I mean coverages, everything, the back end is very good. DBs are good. Linebackers are good, so I think they’re a solid team all around.”
Now, it’s not as if the Packers’ offense is going to be a walk in the park for this Texans’ defense. As we saw against Arizona, being able to pair the run game with the passing game as the Packers did in that matchup, along with spreading the ball around to numerous pass catchers, is going to stress any defense and leave many coordinators wondering as they put the game-plan together, what do I try to take away?
It’s also important to note that the Texans secondary will be without two starting members of their secondary, cornerback Kamari Lassiter and safety Jimmie Ward, according to Aaron Wilson. Those are key losses for Houston that the Packers passing game could potentially exploit.
With that said, there is still that aforementioned Texans’ pass rush to contend with and becoming one-dimensional and pass-heavy likely isn’t a path the Packers want to venture down.
Against a Cardinals defense that went into last Sunday’s game trying to take away the Packers run game, Green Bay was still able to rush for 179 yards as a team, averaging 4.7 yards per attempt, picking up “tough, muddy” yards on the ground, as LaFleur put it.
The ability to move the ball on the ground this week once again will be paramount, even if those yards aren’t coming easy. The offense falling behind the sticks and finding themselves in predictable passing situations will put that unit at a disadvantage against the Houston pass rush that will be able to pin its ears back in those situations and a defense that, as a whole, flies around and plays a physical brand of football.
As the Packers struggled to find consistency on offense in the previous two games against Los Angeles and Minnesota, in many instances, it was issues on early downs that then led to them being in long down-and-distance situations, which oftentimes, were too big of holes to overcome, resulting in a very boom-or-bust offense that either generated a big play and scored or had a short possession and punted. While big plays are great and can lead to points, that all-or-nothing approach likely won’t end well against the Texans’ defense.
So, while all eyes naturally will fall on Love and his crew of dynamic skill position players, the Packers’ ability in the trenches to carve out some running lanes along with keeping Love clean will still be important factors for this Green Bay offense, even if there may be added opportunities to attack the Houston secondary.
“They’re both getting better and they both work at it,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus about Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker. “In practice, they work their butts off. We’ve got a challenge with these two rushers this week. They’re going to continue to fight and we’re always going to harp fundamentals. That’s what this position is about.
“So, we can constantly get better and keep improving by using our fundamentals, our sets, our pad level, our hands and our footwork, and those guys are professionals. They’re going to keep working at it and keep battling every day.”
We often hear about complementary football in the sense of how the offense, defense, and special teams units work together. But against a heavy-weight opponent like the Texans, playing complementary ball within the scope of the offense will be crucial as well. This means marrying the run and pass games together and not becoming over-reliant on one over the other. It also includes spreading the ball around so the Texans have to defend the entire field, along with matching Houston’s intensity.
“They play very fast, very physical, very sound,” added LaFleur. “I think their play style is one of the best, if not the best in the league. Just when you watch ‘em, so, it’s going to be a great challenge. They do a really, really good job…And I think you look at the talent they’ve assembled, I think they’ve done a great job getting a lot of really good football players. They play extremely well together. You can tell it’s a cohesive unit. Everybody’s playing as one.”