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Packers at Texans Preview: Arian Foster can set a franchise record with a touchdown…

Oct 13, 2012, 2:09 PM EDT

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PACKERS (2-3) AT TEXANS (5-0)

By Football Night in America’s Elliott Kalb

The Texans and Falcons are the lone remaining undefeated teams.

Packers LG Jeff Saturday was asked what the mood in the Green Bay locker room was now following the loss to the Colts.”Coach (Mike) McCarthy has talked a lot about where we are,” Saturday said. “It’s the condition of our team that we are concerned about much more than the position. We’re 2-3 and there’s a lot of football left, but we’re doing a lot of things to hurt ourselves. And in all of the games we’ve lost, we’ve done it and we are not correcting the mistakes we need to correct.

The Packers are 10-3 in their last 13 road games.

We need them to be good: this is the first of three Sunday Night Games slated for the Packers.

The Packers are an NFL-best 18-5 playing on Sunday Nights.

Green Bay has balance: they are the only team in the NFL with four receivers with each having at least 20 catches this season.

Matt Schaub has won nine consecutive games back to last year.

Owen Daniels has a touchdown in his last three games.

Arian Foster can set a franchise record with a touchdown…it would be seven consecutive games with a score.

Running back Ben Tate, who has a sore toe, continue to make progress and should be ready to spell Arian Foster some Sunday night, Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. Foster carried 29 times against the Jets – gaining 152 yards for his 19th 100-yard game – and is averaging 26.4 rushes per game.

Green Bay Nose tackle B.J. Raji, who didn’t practice again Thursday with an ankle injury, is the key to slowing Foster down. Rookie Mike Daniels will be playing a more prominent role if Raji cannot go. The Packers played a lot of nickel when Raji went down at Indianapolis. Against Houston’s balanced offense, it remains to be seen how the Packers would counter.

After spraining his left foot, starter Cedric Benson has been placed on injured reserve with designation. Under this new rule, Benson is eligible to return in eight weeks. For now, Green Bay must forge ahead with Alex Green, James Starks and Brandon Saine.

Coach Mike McCarthy says the team will rely on “the hot hand.”

JJ Watt led the NFL in sacks until Wednesday, when the Elias Sports Bureau changed a decision on one of Watt’s sacks.  Watt, a Wisconsin native, now has 7 ½ sacks. Green Bay outside linebacker Clay Matthews leads the NFL with eight. Watt and Matthews will be on opposite sidelines Sunday night when the Texans play the Packers at Reliant Stadium. Elias ruled that when Watt sacked quarterback Ryan Tannehill, it was actually a designed running play. Therefore, the sack was subtracted from Watt’s total.

Asked about the loss of Brian Cushing, Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said a team never escapes unscathed when it loses “a great player, and Cush is a great player – maybe the best inside linebacker (in the league)” – but he pointed out how “our other guys stepped up” Monday night after Cushing left in the second quarter.“(Tim) Dobbins came in and played well. Bradie James had eight tackles.”

Houston’s receivers are not the strength of this team.  WR Kevin Walter (6-3, 218), a starter since ’07, is smart and skilled at running underneath possession routes.  But what has happened to Andre Johnson?  He’s the NFL equivalent of Alex Rodriguez.

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