Packers: Four winners from Week 7 win against the Texans

Winner #3: Mike Pettine

Mike Pettine has been at the butt of a lot of criticism in 2020, pretty much all of it is deserved. In 2019, the Green Bay defense gave up their fair share of yards and points. However, what separated them last year was the fact that they forced turnovers and did a great job of getting to the opposing QB.

This season, expectations were high coming in due to last year’s effort. So far in 2020, the Packers defense has looked similar to past defenses. Giving up a lot of yards, missing tackles, playing soft coverage all game.

While Za’Darius Smith has still been getting sacks, the rest of the defense has struggled mightily in that department. So getting three sacks against the Texans is a very positive sign even though they may not have a great offensive line.

Preston Smith didn’t get a sack, but he was getting in on some disruptions and found himself in the backfield a few times. After struggling through the first five games of the season, this game can be used to get him back on track.

Possibly my biggest plus of the game for the defense was that they only gave up 79 rushing yards, which was good for a 3.6 average. Again, this Houston offense isn’t really anything to write home about, but Green Bay was shutting them down for most of this game.