In David Culley's first game as head coach, the Houston Texans defeated the Green Bay Packers 26-7 at Lambeau Field on Saturday night.
"We had a lack of consistency tonight at times, but we'll go review the film tomorrow and look at it and correct those mistakes and keep trying to get better which is what we've been trying to do during training camp," Culley said.
After the Packers took a 7-3 lead to start the second quarter, the Texans scored 23 unanswered points. All three quarterbacks, Tyrod Taylor, Davis Mills and Jeff Driskel guided Houston on scoring drives.
"Basically what we want them to do is just execute what is being called and I thought for the most part tonight, all those quarterbacks did that tonight," Culley said.
The Texans rushed for 170 yards on 37 carries with running backs Scottie Phillips and Darius Jackson each running for a score. Phillips also rushed for a team-high 66 yards on 13 carries, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, in addition to the score.
Ka'imi Fairbairn was perfect on the night, successfully making field goals from 37, 25, 41 and 42 yards.
Lovie Smith's defense forced three takeaways and allowed just 49 yards on the ground. Rookie defensive lineman Roy Lopez and second-year defensive lineman Jonathan Greenard each had a sack. Jaleel Johnson recovered two fumbles while defensive back Tremon Smith had one interception in the win.
"Overall defensively, I think they played team defense tonight," Culley said. "Basically, we got to make sure, we had a couple of third-and-longs tonight that I know Lovie wasn't happy with, we weren't happy with that we've got to get them off the field in third-and-longs and we didn't do a good job of doing that."
Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw a 22-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, but the Texans defense kept Green Bay scoreless for the remainder of the game and allowed just three successful third- down conversions.
Taylor started at quarterback and played just one series, completing 4-of-4 passes for 40 yards and a 108.3 passer rating. Fairbairn's 37-yard field goal capped off an 11-play, 53-yard scoring drive that gave Houston a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Chris Conley, who caught three passes for 36 yards on the series, finished with a team-high 51 receiving yards.
After Taylor exited the game following the first offensive series, Mills entered the game and remained under center until 10:08 remaining in the third quarter. The rookie orchestrated back-to-back scoring drives in the second quarter, completing 11-of-22 for 112 yards and one interception.
With 6:17 left in the game, Jackson scored on a 25-yard rushing touchdown on third-and-1. Smith's 20-yard punt return to open the drive gave the Texans possession in Green Bay territory. Houston took a 26-7 lead following the three-play, 34-yard scoring drive.
Smith picked off Packers quarterback Kurt Benkert on the Packers' final possession of the game. The Texans ended the game in victory formation.
The Texans will play the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in the second preseason game Saturday, Aug. 21. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CDT on ABC-13 and SportsRadio 610. Check here for local listings.
Check out game action from Texans Preseason Week 1 in Greenbay