On a picture perfect evening at Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Houston Texans 28-26 to open the Pre-season and deliver a win to Head Coach Matt LaFleur in his debut at the helm.
LaFleur sat down 26 players, at least 16 of them expected starers, leaving it up to the second and third teams to deliver. At times they did in a big way.
The first touchdown came from Special Teams with Equanimeous St. Brown running downfield as a gunner. J.K. Scott's punt sailed over the head of Keke Coutee and when he turned to find and field the ball inside his 10, it grazed his leg. St. Brown found it and cradled in the end zone. The Packers had to punt after rookie Ka'Dar Hollman picked off a Joe Webb pass at the Pack's 26.
Houston got the game even, driving 61 yards on 14 plays with Damarea Crockett banging over from one.
With Aaron Rodgers among those on the sidelines, DeShone Kizer got the start. He was saddled with poor field position in the opening quarter but after the Houston touchdown, Kizer drove the Pack 75 yards in 10 plays to put Green Bay on top for good. He converted a third and seven with a 23 yard hookup to tight end Robert Tonyan and moved the chains himself later by scrambling for 2 on third and 1. On third and 4 at the Houston 14, Kizer had to extend the play but found Darrius Shepherd streaking toward the goal line. Kizer's pass was high but Shepherd plucked it for the score earning him his very first Lambeau Leap.
Joe Webb led a two minute drive that stalled at the 31 and set up Ka'imi Fairbairn's 49 yard field goal at the gun to make it 14-10 Packers at halftime.
Chandon Sullivan picked off an errant screen early in the third and returned Webb's second interception 18 yards to the three.
Tim Boyle was now at the controls and he couldn't push into the end zone without some help. On 4th and goal, J'Mon Moore dropped a crossing route but away from the play, Houston was called for illegal contact giving Green Bay another set of downs. More made amends by running a solid out route and Boyle hit him for the one yard score.
The defense stopped the Texans on downs at the Green Bay 23 and another penalty set up Boyle for more. On third and 10 from the 35, Deante Burton was called for a 40 yard pass interference penalty working against Allen Lazard. Three plays later, Lazard ran a sharp post route and Boyle hit in the end for for a 27 yard TD that gave the Packers a 28-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Houston wouldn't go away however, scoring 9 points in :59. Jerell Adams beat James Crawford to the outside for a six yard touchown but the PAT missed wide right and then first year free agent Teo Redding fumbled the ensuing kickoff (the only Packer turnover) leading to a Fairbairn 45 yard field goal.
The Texans made one last push, driving 70 yards with Josh Ferguson going over from the one to make it 28-26 with just :29 remaining.
Brady Sheldon nearly had an interception on the drive but he didn't let go of an onside kick attempt to seal the result.
LaFleur's new offense put up three touchdowns in the middle quarters and looked much better than it had during the joint practices against Houston during the week.
Kizer finished 8 of 13 for 102 yards and a touchdown for a passer rating of 111.7 while Boyle went 3 of 5 for 40 yards and two scores and a rating of 125.0. Even free agent Manny Wilkins, who was 0 for 3 passing, managed one solid, clock eating drive in the 4th quarter thanks to strong running by Dexter Williams as the draft choice led all rushers with 62 yards on 14 carries.
Afterwards, LaFleur summed up the quarterback play:
(Audio: Matt LaFleur)
The backup offensive line didn't allow a sack on 21 dropbacks and outside of Moore's TD drop, receivers made plays.
Jake Kumerow had two catches early, Shepherd and Lazard made fine grabs with tight coverage.
Defensively was a different story. Houston piled up 412 yards with 29 first downs despite three turnovers, (Raven Greene also forced a first quarter fumble from Taiwan Jones that Will Redmond recovered). Veteran Joe Webb went the distance at quarterback and while he did get sacked twice, he escaped several more sacks that turned into bigger plays with missed tackles. On Houston's first scoring drive, I counted at least five and it wasn't lost on LaFleur:
(Audio: Matt LaFleur)
Seventh round draft pick Ty Summers played almost the entire game and he led the team with 9 tackles and 1 assisted. Reggie Gilbert and Randy Ramsey came up with the sacks.
In the kicking game, Scott average 45.6 (39.8 net) on five punts with a long of 56. Mason Crosby and Sam Ficken alternated extra points and kickoffs. Crosby was actually pushed back five more yards because of a penalty and one of Mason's kickoffs did squirt out of bounds.
The Packers were flagged 12 times for 102 yards while Houston piled up 9 penalties for an even 100 yards, typical for an opening game.
It was a night for the backups to step up, it wasn't always pretty but it's a win in his first go as a Head Coach. Did LaFleur ever get a chance to soak that in?
(Audio: Matt LaFleur)
Camp resumes Saturday, next Pre-Season stop is in Baltimore against the Ravens next Thursday night.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst made more roster moves Thursday afternoon, bringing back safety Ibraheim Campbell. He joined the team last year and made an impression on defensive coordinator Mike Pettine appearing in two games. Last year's 7th round pick, linebacker Kendall Donnerson was waived-injured and five year veteran running back Corey Grant was released, curious after he collected a $60,000.00 signing bonus from the Packers just four days into camp.