Packers offense looking to clean up turnover troubles

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — After taking advantage of turnovers for the first third of the season, the Green Bay Packers are now getting a little too careless with the ball.

The Packers (5-2) committed three turnovers and didn’t get a single takeaway Sunday in their 24-22 victory over the Houston Texans.

Houston scored 16 points off turnovers, including two scoring drives that started on the Green Bay 11-yard line.

Green Bay still earned its third straight victory as Brandon McManus capped his Packers debut by kicking a 45-yard field goal as time expired, but the inability to protect the football was noteworthy for a team that entered the game leading the NFL with a plus-9 turnover margin.

“It’s hard to overcome losing the turnover battle by three in this league,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.

Indeed, this marked the first time the Packers had won a game in which they posted a turnover margin of minus-3 or worse since a 23-22 victory over the Detroit Lions on Oct. 14, 2019, according to Sportsradar.

Green Bay still has a league-high 17 takeaways, but the Packers also have committed 11 turnovers. The only teams with more turnovers are the Las Vegas Raiders (16), Carolina Panthers (12) and Tennessee Titans (12).

Jordan Love has thrown 15 touchdown passes to rank second in the NFL, behind only Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield. Love has reached that total despite missing two games earlier this season with a knee injury.

But he also has thrown eight interceptions, matching Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Las Vegas’ Gardner Minshew for the most by any quarterback this season. His eight interceptions have come in 179 pass attempts, whereas last season he was picked off 11 times in 579 passes.

That reflects Love’s confidence in his arm and willingness to throw high-risk, high-reward passes. For instance, Love threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft on Sunday that nearly got deflected or picked off by Calen Bullock.

“It’s the NFL,” Love said. “There’s not always going to be wide-open guys. It’s going to be tight windows you’ve got to fit the ball in there sometimes, and I’m going to keep playing. I learn and grow from the mistakes, the interceptions and just keep playing, keep moving on, but that’s not ever going to limit me.”

What’s working

Green Bay’s pass rush produced perhaps its best performance of the season. C.J. Stroud was sacked four times and passed for a career-low 86 yards, the fewest the Packers had allowed to any quarterback with at least 20 attempts since Seattle’s Charlie Frye had just 83 on 23 attempts back in 2008.

What needs work

The punt return unit had two major breakdowns Sunday. Houston’s MJ Stewart recovered a fumble after a punt hit the ground and bounced off the leg of Green Bay’s Corey Ballentine, who was blocking on the play. In the third quarter, Jayden Reed caught a punt just outside the end zone, then went into the end zone during his return before getting tackled at the Green Bay 4.