Packers trying to clean up their act for Houston and beyond

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The Green Bay Packers will try to clean up their act when they start practicing today for their next game on Sunday night at Houston. The Packers have the most penalty yards in the N-F-L, with 390. And they’ve attracted the fourth-highest number of flags with 40 – a definite factor behind their 2-and-3 record. It’s a far cry from a year ago, when Green Bay committed just 76 penalties for 591 yards. They were tied for the league low in penalty yards, during a season in which the Pack went 15-and-1. Fullback John Kuhn said the Packers are trying to be a more physical team – but they need to do it in a correct and more fundamentally-sound fashion. Left tackle Marshall Newhouse says it comes down to executing better, and being more professional. The Packer defense was the main culprit in last Sunday’s loss at Indianapolis. They lost the chance to get a turnover when linebacker Nick Perry appeared to hit Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck with the crown of his helmet. He was called for roughing the passer, and it negated a fumble by Luck that was recovered by Packers’ linebacker D-J Smith. Also, the Packers cannot blame the replacement officials for their high numbers of penalties. They were flagged an average of eight times in the three games with the substitute refs – and they’ve also averaged eight in their last two games under the so-called “real refs.”

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The Houston Texans will be without their star linebacker Brian Cushing when they host the Packers on Sunday night. Cushing is out for the season after he tore an A-C-L knee ligament. It happened during a chop block by New York Jets’ guard Matt Slauson in Monday night’s 23-to-17 Texans’ victory. Slauson ended up rolling on Cushing’s leg. An M-R-I yesterday confirmed the injury – and he’ll have surgery when his swelling goes down. Packers’ linebacker Clay Matthews was Cushing’s college teammate at U-S-C. And Matthews tweeted yesterday, “If the N-F-L really wants to increase player safety, start protecting players on BOTH sides of the ball … Where’s the N-F-L’s protection on blocks below the waist like that on Cushing. Double standard!” The 24-year-old Cushing helped the Texans go to 5-and-0 with one interception and 29 tackles.

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