Photo by Evan Siegle - packers.com
Lukas Van Ness celebrating, December 3, 2023
Lukas Van Ness celebrating after sacking Patrick Mahomes at Lambeau Field, December 3, 2023
Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson led the way with 72 and 71 yards respectively, with Watson on the receiving end of two of Love’s three touchdown strikes. He also added 19 yards on the ground and seemed to be back to the being the weapon he was in the second half of last year. Watson did, unfortunately suffer a hamstring injury on his last carry of the game when he alertly managed to stay in bounds and keep the clock running, but early reports are that it’s not severe.
If Watson does miss time, the Packers are surprisingly well-equipped to deal with it. They are the youngest team in the NFL, especially in the offensive skill positions, however every single receiver and tight end has made enormous strides since the beginning of the season, and the depth at tight end and receiver is one of their biggest strengths. Some of Watson’s recent good play has come at the expense of slot receiver Jayden Reed, and there is no reason to think that Reed would struggle with a slight increase in reps. Rookie Dontayvion Wicks (three catches, 43 yards) continues to improve every week, and should be an adequate replacement for Watson’s outside production. Even rookie tight end Tucker Kraft has excelled while stepping in for the injured Luke Musgrave, especially as a blocker.
Love’s Headlines
However, it is Love himself that is deservedly getting all the headlines this week. Since week nine, Love is the second-best quarterback in football behind only Brock Purdy by basically every metric, and he’s making the kinds of throws we’re used to seeing from the previous two Packer Hall-of-Famers. Against an outstanding Chiefs defense, Love was perfect in his decision-making. On his second touchdown to Christian Watson, a bullet over the middle, his first few reads were not available, and even though he was surrounded by Kansas City pass-rushers, he did not panic, and simply reset and found Watson breaking late.
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It was a veteran play, pulled off by one of the league’s youngest quarterbacks. Love’s growth over the course of the season is a testament to the unique Packer philosophy on quarterback development. No other NFL team has this kind of patience for the wait-and-develop approach, and no ither team has the Packers’ track record of success.
On the defensive side, the Packers managed to hold Patrick Mahomes and company to just 19 points. While Green Bay still has trouble stopping the run and allowed Isiah Pacheco to gain 110 yards on just 18 carries, they were just good enough in coverage to limit the Chief’s offense. With Taylor Swift in attendance, Travis Kelce was held to 81 yards on five targets, while former Packer Marquez Valdes-Scantling struggled mightily against his old team, catching only two of five targets for 25 yards.
As good as the offense was, the play of the game came from the defense, where nickel corner Keisean Nixon noticed Patrick Mahomes telegraph an audible when Mahomes tapped his knee. The Chiefs ran a fade to Nixon’s man, Skyy Moore, however Nixon ran the route better than Moore, securing the interception. It was a brilliant, cerebral play that allowed the Packers to turn a vulnerable 5-point lead into a much safer 8-point lead, and nearly put the game out of reach.
There were some controversial calls for both teams on Kansas City’s final drive including an incorrect roughing call on Packer safety Jonathan Owens, and a missed pass interference call on Packer DB Carrington Valentine in coverage on Valdes-Scantling, but in the end the Packers held on to win, and deservedly so. Winning against Detroit and Kansas City in back-to-back weeks concludes what was the most difficult portion of the Packer schedule. If the season ended today Green Bay would be in the playoffs, and they have the easiest remaining schedule in football, starting with a Monday Night game against the Giants next week.
This was supposed to be a rebuilding year. After what we have seen out of the Packers recently, the rest of the NFC should be scared.
