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DJ Bien-Aime, ESPN
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs said, “I’m never the bigger person,” regarding his heated pregame fight with Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander.
About 20 minutes before the Packers and Texans tipped off, Diggs and Alexander had a hot exchange in the outfield across the Packers bench. Seconds closer, a huge team of Packers joined in the verbal altercation as Diggs was the only Texan, which turned into a petty bit of pushing and shoving.
Diggs said he was walking to the deposit room as the game was about to start when he heard Alexander’s “squeak.”
“I don’t give a damn if I’m alone or with a million. I’m never the biggest person. I’m not going to let s**t go,” Diggs said after the game. “They picked him up or whatever. But I’m not with the tough guys in football.”
The Packers went straight to defeating the Texans 24-22, capped by a successful Brandon McManus yard goal as Diggs finished calmly, totaling 23 yards on five receptions.
Educator DeMeco Ryans would have liked Diggs to be the bigger person, as Ryans was unhappy with the pregame change, saying, “We can’t talk about squeaks.”
“Things like that happen. Those guys have a history. They’ve done it before. We don’t want to encourage that,” Ryans said. “We just want to play the right way and make sure he’s settled on the field.”
The Texans’ passing offense couldn’t turn Diggs’ pregame fire into good product. The unit had its worst passing efficiency during Ryans’ tenure with a net total of 55 yards.
Famed quarterback CJ Stroud threw for a career-low 86 yards with no touchdowns, even if Houston’s defense and special teams unit pressured three guys. The offensive attack was also successful, as back office Joe Mixon finished with 115 yards and two touchdowns.
Passing couldn’t take advantage, however, as Stroud was 2-of-7 on third downs for 13 yards and was sacked three times. The problems started with cross coverage because the Packers mistook Stroud on a season-high 48% of his throws.
“We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot once again,” Stroud said. “That’s just a recipe for disaster when you play a great team. I think our defense did a great job today. Our special teams did amazing. So we have to be better as an offense. This is on us, period.” blank, period.”
Due to penniless cross-coverage, the Stroud-Diggs connection was in no position to go away. And during all the pregame fireworks between Alexander and Diggs, they faced each other just six times without goals, according to post-generation statistics.
Sunday wasn’t the first day Alexander and Diggs had a pregame fight. In 2022’s Future 8, the two had a lighthearted interaction when both players ran out of the tunnel on the same day for pregame warmups when Diggs used to be a Buffalo Bill.
The Expenses won 27-17 and Diggs finished with 108 receiving yards and one touchdown. After the game, Alexander called Diggs a “little kid,” but he wasn’t in the deposit room that day to talk about this hot trade. Protection Xavier McKinney defended the Professional Bowl cornerback and declared: “I’m with [No.] 2-3 every time.”
“They have their own little things,” McKinney said. “I’m with my guys and we’re going to travel together and that’s what it is, so if he doesn’t like it, then I don’t like it. That’s what it is.”
Packers defensive end Rashan Gary agreed.
“Every game we play is important, but just understanding the type of team they are, understanding where we want to go in the season, we have to take care of business today,” Gary said. “And all that chirping before the game, we don’t like that fake, harsh stuff because we have 60 minutes to play, and that’s what we did today.”
ESPN Body editor Rob Demovsky contributed to this report.
