-Green Bay drops to 5-8 on the season after Houston's Kris Brown connected on a 40-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Packers, 24-21, at Lambeau Field.
-It was Green Bay's fifth loss of the season by four points or less, and the second time it has been beaten by a game-winning field goal (at Tennessee, 19-16, in overtime).
-The Packers have lost five of their last six games.
-Today's paid attendance was 70,245, the 276th consecutive sellout (260 regular season, 16 playoffs) at Lambeau Field.
-Tramon Williams intercepted his fifth pass of the season, extending his career high.
-Donald Lee's TD reception in the second quarter was his fifth of the season.
-Houston's Matt Schaub passed for 414 yards, the highest total the Packers have allowed this season. The Packers last gave up over 400 passing yards against the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 22, 2006 (Joey Harrington, 414 yards).
-Houston rookie Steve Slaton rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season. Slaton now has 1,024 rushing yards.
-The 63-yard pass play from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings was Green Bay's longest pass play of the season. Rodgers finished the game with 295 yards passing and a quaterback rating of 104.2.
-Ryan Grant scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the season, which ties him for the team lead with Rodgers, who also had four rushing touchdowns.
-Grant totaled 104 yards on 19 carries, his third 100-yard performance of the season and eighth of his career.
-Brett Goode recovered his first career fumble in the fouth quarter.
-Jordy Nelson caught the second touchdown of his career, his first TD reception at Lambeau Field.
-Desmond Bishop recorded his first career sack.
-Rodgers eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark and now has 3,192 passing yard on the season.
**
HEAD COACH MIKE McCARTHY:
(on another disappointing loss) "I can speak for myself on your question. I'm frustrated. I'm very frustrated in the way in particular today's game unfolded. It's a little bit of a picture of how our season has gone. We had a number of opportunities and we didn't cash in on them. We had some breakdowns and unfortunately that's why we're sitting here again with a loss."
(on the defense not being able to get a key stop when needed) "Today we stopped them on first down and in the second down play they came out with a breakdown. That's football. You have to stay gap-sound, technique-specific and so forth. We didn't do that for four quarters today."
(on whether the Packers defense blitzed more today) "I thought Bob (Sanders) was aggressive today. I thought he was aggressive with the pressure. We were trying to adjust it, our medical situation with Brady (Poppinga) playing defensive end and so forth, but it was not enough."
(on not converting a third down until the fourth quarter) "We had some opportunities early. We went into the game (planning) to be aggressive on third down. We missed the one, the first one I recall. We had two sacks in man protection. We had been very good in third down, especially as of late. We did not handle that today. They (Houston) went more five-man pressure, they played a lot more three shell against us, which we feel plays to our advantage. But we were not able to convert. We were not very sharp on third down today."
(on what there is left to play for with three games left) "We're the Green Bay Packers. We're going to line up, we're going to prepare. We're going to get in here tomorrow and correct our mistakes, and everybody is going to know exactly what went wrong, what went right. And we will apply that as we move forward. But we are going down to Jacksonville to win a football game. We need to win a game around here. As far as your question, we are the Green Bay Packers. I fully expect everybody to prepare to perform at a high level."
QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS:
(on how frustrating the close losses are) "It's disappointing. We had a chance to win. It's kind of gone the same script. We start slow, wait for somebody to make a play. Somebody does, then we start turning it on on the offensive side of the ball, get the ball in good position, have an opportunity to win the game and we don't. So that's probably the most frustrating part."
(on missing opportunities to score TDs at the end of games) "We had a tough situation backed up, but Donald (Driver) made a great catch and run and put us in a good spot. I like the calls we made. We just didn't get any points out of it."
(on poor performance on 3rd down conversions today) "I don't know what the stats were, but they did a nice job. We just didn't convert like we usually do and like the plan we had. (We) didn't make plays. You've got to give them credit on defense. They had a good game plan. Mario (Williams) is a tough presence rushing the passer, but I like our plan every week on third down. We should have executed and we didn't, so no excuse for that."
(on being out of playoff contention) "I just want to win one (more) game. We've got Jacksonville and that's all we're going to focus on, and that's just about all we can focus on right now."
(on whether the close losses have a mental effect at the end of games) "Possibly, yeah. The frustrating part (is) it's been right there in front of us. We've had the opportunity to execute and finish those games off and we haven't. Today we were very confident in the fourth quarter. We tied it up and got the ball back, had a good call, Donald (Driver) made a great catch and run, and I think everybody on the offensive side was thinking 'All right, let's punch this in for seven and get this win.' And then all the rest of that stuff happened."
LINEBACKER BRADY POPPINGA
(on the Texans amassing over 500 yards of offense) "It's frustrating. I don't really have a lot of words to say, sorry."
(on the play when Vonta Leach broke free for a 22-yard gain) "He just got out to the flat there. They threw him the ball, and he got some yards."
(on what the defense is saying to each other) "You can say anything you want, but it doesn't matter what you say, it's what you do. We're not getting it done."
(on what his thoughts are right now given the status of the season) "My thoughts? Losing is not fun. That's my thought. It's very frustrating."
WIDE RECEIVER JORDY NELSON
(on not coming up with the big play late in a game) "That's all it comes down to. You can't pin it on one thing. Right now, the other team is making more plays than we are."
(on what happened on the touchdown play) "Aaron Rodgers gave me a signal to change up the route. And he was correct, so we just ran a go route and were able to get on top and he threw me the ball."
(on if that's just a matter of him getting leverage on the defender) "Yeah, A-Rod saw something, I guess whatever he wanted. I mean, he has the capability of doing that. That's why he's in charge of the offense. He can check the different things. He just gave a quick check and it was one on one and we were able to win."
(on the offense being only 1-for-10 on third downs) "Yeah, that's what it comes down to. We've got to make more plays, third down is huge for us. We were in some good situations where we should have been able to convert some and keep the drive alive."
(on how they get to the point from where they are to winning these close games) "We just got to keep working I guess. I don't know if you can put it on one thing. We just got to continue to work and when it comes down to it, we got to make more plays than they do, and that's all it is."
PUNTER JEREMY KAPINOS
(on his first punt of the game) "I wanted to start the game off so good, get one of those punts down in the 20. Once I saw that ball on the 50, I just kind of got real excited and just kind of let up on the ball and obviously the end result was very disappointing."
(on his punting during the rest of the game) "After that, I mean, I just kind of settled in. Coach just said, "hit the ball, stop trying to finesse it," and I just started to punt the way I'm capable of. I thought it was a lot of fun. It was nice and cold, but it was fun. It was a joy to be out there, and the fans had every right to boo after my first punt."
(on if he heard the fans after his first punt) "No, they had every right to do that. I was so disappointed with myself, and I booed myself too. It was fun and after that I settled right and started hitting the ball like I've been doing all week in practice."
(on his last punt that was downed at the 3-yard-line) "I've been punting in that direction and the wind was a little, the wind's so tricky here. I've learned in two days of punting there, the guys on the outside are so fast, just give them a little bit of time, they'll get down there and down it. They just said to try to hang it up there and give us a good shot at downing it and I was able to do that. Like I said, a lot of fun."
CENTER SCOTT WELLS
(on if it's disappointing to lose in the closing moments once again) "I think if you ask anybody they'll be disappointed. I hate to lose. So whether we've won five games or we've won 13, when we lose one, it hurts. So we have to find a way to stay together and correct these mistakes. And find a way that when the games on the line, regardless of what's happened up to that point, to get the job done and win the game. That's all that matters. You're paid to win games, you're not paid just to play. So we have to find a way to come out with a 'W' at the end of the day."
(on not being eliminated from playoff contention yet, but not being able to worry about something so far down the road) "I think right now we need to take it week-by-week. We need to find a way to learn from this one and go into Jacksonville and get that win. Don't worry about the next week. Get your job done week-by-week and the rest will fall into place."
(on if it's hard to believe a team from the south can come up to Lambeau and win in "Packers weather") "No, I mean, I'm from the south and I play in it. But, it's definitely games like this, is the ones that we should take advantage of, the home field advantage. We definitely should go out there and play faster than we did, especially in the first half. I felt like we were playing fast in the fourth quarter and second part of the third quarter. But we didn't play fast on the front offensively, we didn't play fast in the first half. And we came out and didn't play fast in the beginning of the third. And those are crucial times. The first drive coming out of halftime is a big, big drive as far as momentum. And we have to find a way to come out, get a drive and get some points with that drive."
{sportsad300}TEXANS HEAD COACH GARY KUBIAK:
(on the victory) "Our group had every reason at some point to fold with the turnovers hurting us, but this group is made up of a lot of character and that is as good a win that I have ever been around. We are on cloud nine right now."
(on starting at their own four yard line on the last drive) "That is about as bad a situation as you can be in. They had two timeouts, you have to get the ball out of your own end zone and you are probably thinking how do I get to overtime. So we said let's pound it out a couple of yards, let's take a shot with Andre (Johnson) on the second play, but we didn't get the coverage that we wanted. Matt dumped the ball to Vonta (Leach) and he makes the best catch that I have ever seen him make. Now all of a sudden we go from being non-aggressive trying to get to overtime to being aggressive and trying to win the game."
(on the team setting a franchise record for yards) "I think it shows what we are capable of. We have a lot of weapons on offense and guys that can make plays."
(on winning at Lambeau Field) "It is nice to win in a tough place like this. We struggle on the road and to come here with all this tradition and win that game the way we won it at the end will be special to all of us."
TEXANS QUARTERBACK MATT SCHAUB:
(on his last drive pass to Vonta Leach) "It was a great play. We had a play action pass and we had Andre deep and they covered him so I had Vonta. I wasn't expecting to get him open because they play man coverage and he happened to slip out to the flat. I just tried to put it on him, but it kind of took off on me a little bit. He was able to get one hand on it and pull it in. That was the play of the game in my opinion because it gave us the opportunity to go on that two minute drive to get that field goal."
(on if the weather impacted the game) "The good thing about today was that it was a great day for football. Sure it was cold, but luckily we were fortunate that there wasn't wind blowing. It wasn't blowing too badly so we were able to throw the ball around and beat man coverage. The offensive line did a great job of owning the line of scrimmage."
(on why the Texans have been playing so well recently) "We have just kept playing. We are becoming a very well-balanced team. Our offensive line is really coming together so we are getting the running game going and the passing game going. We are really starting to come together and come into our own."
TEXANS LINEBACKER DEMECO RYANS:
(on his fourth quarter sack of Aaron Rodgers) "We had a blitz with me and the defensive back coming up the middle and we made the center pick one of us. I looked up at the (play) clock and there was like three seconds left and I knew he had to snap the ball so I just timed it up. He slid to the defensive back so I was clean to take him down."
KICKER KRIS BROWN:
(on the game-winning kick) "It is one of those things where you just get out there and go through your routine, pick a target out and just hit it as smooth as you can. Most of the time when it comes off my foot I have a pretty good idea if it is good or not. It came off my foot and I knew right away that it was good."
