1. Is Christian Watson coming on as the team hoped?
At this point, there’s no question that Christian Watson is not having the season that the Packers would have hoped for. One of the reasons the Packers did not pursue a veteran receiver in free agency was the belief they had in Watson and Romeo Doubs to lead the way in the receiver room.
By all accounts, both receivers have been helpful to the young pass catchers as they try and learn Matt LaFleur’s offense.
The issue has been production, or lack thereof, on the field.
Watson had an excellent stretch last season where he finished the year with 611 yards, and he had a big performance on national TV against the Dallas Cowboys where he scored three touchdowns.
By the end of the season, he was the Packers’ top receiver.
Thursday’s game in Detroit could have been a turning point for him much in the same way that the Dallas game was a season ago. The Packers’ offense appears to be at its best when they run through Watson. He is still their most talented receiver.
Watson needs to deliver on those opportunities when his number is called.
He helped set the tone in Thursday’s 29-22 win over the Detroit Lions with a 53-yard catch to start the day. That’s the version of Watson the Packers need on a weekly basis moving forward.
2. Does a two-game win streak quiet the naysayers about Jordan Love?
For now, it should. This is what the Packers likely envisioned when they started the season with the most inexperienced group around Jordan Love in the history of the NFL.
Love had his struggles. There was a scenario that could have played out this season where Love was one-and-done as the Packers’ starting quarterback.
That would have required an absolute disaster, but after consecutive losses to the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos, it appeared the Packers were on their way to disaster. Rock bottom had to have been only scoring 10 points against the Vikings — and being largely uncompetitive in their own stadium.
Since then, Love has rebounded. For three consecutive weeks, you could have come out of the game saying Love has played the best game of his career.
That stretch includes a fourth-quarter comeback combined with a 300-yard passing day against the Chargers. Love may have topped that with his three touchdown performance on the road against the Lions.
The Packers were an eight-point underdog. They were truly not expected to win.
Love is proving Brian Gutekunst right and all of the naysayers wrong. It’s hard to imagine the Packers not rewarding Love with a contract extension sooner rather than later.
3. What about the late round and undrafted rookies, like Malik Heath, Karl Brooks?
One of the pleasant surprises over the last two weeks is the emergence of Malik Heath.
Heath was one of the darlings of preseason and may have worked his way as high as fourth on the receiving depth chart.
That did not last long. Heath was a healthy scratch in the early portion of the season before surpassing Samori Toure on the depth chart. Toure has been active once since Heath effectively took his place, and that was due to an injury to Dontayvion Wicks.
Heath is a nice role player in the offense. His blocking abilities flashed immediately when he got to training camp.
Last week, he showed off his abilities as a pass catcher. He caught all four of his targets for 46 yards. That performance is not going to set any records, but the Packers finding use from an undrafted free agent is a big development at this point of the season.
On the defensive side of the ball, a sixth-round pick potentially has a claim to the best defensive lineman on the roster not named Kenny Clark.
When Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry were allowed to leave in free agency, the plan was for their snaps to go to TJ Slaton and Devonte Wyatt.
Slaton has had some nice moments in the run game. Wyatt has had some nice moments as a pass rusher.
In terms of big plays, however, Karl Brooks is the one who has made the most of his opportunities.
Brooks had a forced fumble in Thursday’s win over Detroit. He has three sacks on the season and appears to be getting better as the year goes along.
4. What about the other areas of concern – Love throwing the long ball, and AJ Dillon and the running game?
Of course the Packers are not perfect. Two wins in a row covers up some of the issues they’ve had, but it’s important to note that they still exist.
AJ Dillon and the ground game as a whole has struggled all season long. Some of that is attributed to Aaron Jones missing time with various ailments. Even when Jones has been healthy, however, the Packers have not had an individual rusher go over 100 yards on the season.
That’s not what was expected when this team came together in late July for training camp. This offense was supposed to be built around a strong run game led by Jones and Dillon. That has not happened.
Dillon is now surrounded by players who were not in Green Bay prior to a week ago Tuesday.
The run game just is what it is at this point. It’s hard to imagine it getting appreciably better before the end of the season.
Love’s deep ball is improving, but there were some caveats in Thursday’s win over the Lions.
Love’s first pass of the day was a 53-yard completion to Christian Watson. Watson did well to adjust to a pass that was underthrown.
Later in the game, Love missed another deep pass to Watson, albeit under pressure.
Those are plays that the Packers need to start hitting. Whether its receivers making catches or Love hitting them in stride, they’ll need more big plays down the stretch to make a postseason run.
5. Another missed extra point?
Anders Carlson looked to have shaken off his early season issues when he started the season strong. He did not miss a kick prior to the bye week.
That strong start has turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Carlson has missed an extra point in three straight games. He’s missed a kick in every game except for one against the bye week.
The one week he didn’t, Carlson missed the initial field goal before being given another opportunity thanks to a Vikings penalty.
Carlson is officially a problem at this point in the season. The Packers talked about weathering the storm with him, but they’re at a point now where every point matters.
Missing a PAT could be the difference between going to the playoffs or sitting at home when the calendar turns to January.
Carlson rebounded nicely from the missed PAT and drilled a 43-yard field goal later in the game. The talent is evident, but as Andrew Brandt says, kickers are like lawyers, you never think about them until you need a good one.
The Packers are thinking about their kicker far too often.
6. How safe is Joe Barry today?
Over the last 16 games, the Packers have given up an average of 19.5 points per game. Only one of those last 16 games have they allowed more than 25 points, which was Week 4 against Detroit.
For all the gnashing of teeth over Green Bay’s defense, some of which is justified, they just held two high-powered offenses to 20 and 22 points, respectively.
Yes, the Chargers and Lions made plenty of mistakes to aid the Packers in that way, but that’s still impressive considering who they are playing at this point of the year.
The Packers entered their game against the Chargers with all but one of their preferred starters in their nickel defensive back group on the shelf.
The same was true on Thursday against the Lions.
Rasul Douglas is in Buffalo. Darnell Savage is on injured reserve. Rudy Ford missed the last two games with an injury, as has Jaire Alexander.
That doesn’t include Eric Stokes, a former first-round pick who has yet to play a single defensive snap this season.
The Packers’ cornerback room is currently anchored by a rookie seventh-round pick (Carrington Valentine), a bargain-bin free agent (Keisean Nixon), and a practice squad player (Corey Ballentine). Their safeties last week were a bargain-bin free agent (Jonathan Owens) and a seventh-round pick (Anthony Johnson Jr.).
If Joe Barry had a different reputation, he’d likely be garnering more praise than what he’s currently getting from the fan base.
With some of the putrid offenses the Packers are set to face down the stretch, it’s hard to imagine them performing poorly enough to let Barry go at the end of the season.
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