The Green Bay Packers will welcome the AFC South-leading Houston Texans to Lambeau Field for a showdown of ascending teams with excellent young quarterbacks. Many saw the Packers and Texans as trendy Super Bowl picks entering the 2024 season, and nothing coming out of the first six weeks should deter from viewing these two teams as legitimate contenders.
The Texans, at 5-1 and with a star quarterback in C.J. Stroud, present a major challenge for Matt LaFleur’s team.
Here’s a closer look at the Texans entering Week 7:
Last week (Win, 41-21 over Patriots)
The Texans raced out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, scored three straight times coming out of halftime to take a 27-7 lead and closed out the blowout win with a pair of long rushing touchdowns, spoiling Drake Maye’s first start with the Patriots. C.J. Stroud threw three touchdown passes, and the Texans rushed for almost 200 total yards and forced four turnovers. Joe Mixon rushed for over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns, Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs caught touchdown passes and Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter combined for 4.0 sacks. Like the Packers on Sunday, DeMeco Ryan’s team took care of business against an inferior opponent with a convincing and comfortable victory.
Quarterback play
C.J. Stroud will be the Packers’ biggest challenge to date. The second-year starter is completing almost 69 percent of his passes and averaging 7.6 yards per attempt, with 10 touchdown passes and four interceptions. Incredibly, Stroud is completing 61.1 percent of his passes and averaging 9.4 yards per attempt when pressured this season, so simply disrupting the pocket isn’t always good enough to stop him. He is fearless in the pocket and capable of making any throw under duress. In Bobby Slowik’s offense, Stroud is playing fast and confidently, and the Texans have a nice set of complementary weapons around the quarterback position (although Nico Collins is now out). He has scrambled 12 times in six games, but his rushing production has been minimal. Last season, Stroud was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after throwing 23 touchdown passes and posting a passer rating of 100.8.
Line of scrimmage
C.J. Stroud has been sacked 16 times. He’s been under pressure on roughly 33 percent of his dropbacks this season, and the Texans rank 18th in pass-blocking grade at PFF. Houston is averaging 4.5 yards per rush, including a 5.5-yard average from top running back Joe Mixon. Laremy Tunsil is a top left tackle, but he’s been penalized 12 times. Defensively, the Texans are around average in the NFL in both pass-rushing grade and run defense grade at PFF. Edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. have combined for 8.0 sacks and 15 quarterback hits, and five different Texans defenders have at least 2.0 sacks. Overall, the Texans aren’t dominant at the line on either side of the ball, but the offensive line has played a lot of snaps together and Houston’s pass-rush has all kinds of disruptive potential.
Turnovers
The Texans are perfectly even in the turnover department through six games — seven giveaways against seven takeaways. C.J. Stroud has thrown four interceptions and has seven turnover-worthy plays, so he hasn’t been perfect protecting the football. Rookie safety Calen Bullock has a pair of interceptions, and three different defenders have forced a fumble, but four of Houston’s seven takeaways came last week against a rookie quarterback and the struggling Patriots offense. The Texans are 3-0 when winning the turnover battle. Overall, Stroud has thrown only nine interceptions on over 700 career attempts, and the Texans have disruptive pass-rushers.
Injury situations
Running back Joe Mixon has recovered from an ankle injury, but the Texans won’t have star receiver Nico Collins, who is on injured reserve, and cornerback Kamari Lassiter, receiver Robert Woods and safety Jimmie Ward all missed last week’s win in New England. Others on injured reserve include tight ends Dalton Keene and Brevin Jordan, pass-rusher Jerry Hughes and cornerback Jeff Okudah.
Players to know
WR Stefon Diggs: The former Viking has a touchdown catch in eight straight games against the Packers. Diggs has three touchdown catches and is averaging 8.2 yards per target in Year 1 with C.J. Stroud.
DE Danielle Hunter: The former Viking has 24 pressures and a forced fumble in six games. Hunter and 2023 first-round pick Will Anderson Jr. are one of the best pass-rushing tandems in football.
LB Azeez Al-Shaair: He not only leads the Texans in stops (21), but he’s also pressured the quarterback 13 times and broken up three passes. No. 0 for the Texans is disruptive.
WR Tank Dell: The 165-pound receiver is quick and fast. The Texans haven’t unlocked his big-play ability yet in 2024, but he’s a threat and a top target for C.J Stroud.