GREEN BAY — Matt LaFleur searched for Christian Watson shortly before kickoff.
The head coach of the Green Bay Packers hesitated to commit to his initial play from scrimmage in the team’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions, texting quarterback Jordan Love that morning to change his mind. LaFleur stuck with the aggressive plan even after Love replied that he wanted to keep it that way.
The call came on for Love to pass to Watson, the team’s deep-threat wideout, who had not had many big plays this season. Watson was to pass the ball down the field. Furthermore, LaFleur wanted to guarantee Watson was prepared for it.
I told Christian right before the game, I said, ‘Hey, there’s a good chance this play’s going to go to you. Just go up and attack the football,’” LaFleur recounted following the Packers’ 29-22 victory over the Lions at Ford Field. “And he did exactly that.”
He sure did. Not only did Watson come down with the slightly underthrown, contested ball for a tone-setting 53-yard gain, it was the beginning of one of the 2022 second-round draft pick’s most productive days as a pro.
Watson caught Love’s next pass, too — an 8-yarder on first-and-10 from the Detroit 22-yard line — and three plays later, Love was throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Reed through a microscopic window for a 7-0 lead less than 3 minutes into the game.
Watson went on to finish the day with five receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown on seven targets — his fourth-best single-game yardage total and tied for the second-most receptions he’s had in one game.
“He had a big-time game,” LaFleur continued. “That was good to see for him. I know he hasn’t been flawless up to this point, but I thought he came up big and made a lot of critical catches.”
Could this be the start of something big for the 6-foor-4, 208-pound Watson? With six games left to play in the regular season, Watson, who missed the first three games of the year with a hamstring injury, has caught 21 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns.
But as the Packers have won three of their last four games to move to one game under .500 (5-6) and one game out of the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC, Watson has shown signs of getting his feet underneath him again, catching 10 passes for 175 yards and two TDs on 20 targets.
While the four-game stretch isn’t anything close to the four-game explosion Watson had around this time last year as a rookie — when he had 15 catches for 313 yards and an eye-popping seven TDs on 27 targets — it’s the kind of turn-the-corner moment that would be vital to the Packers’ offense if he can sustain it and be even more effective moving forward.
“Obviously, we know it’s not going to be perfect, but the progress is there. We continue to put that work in every week and build that chemistry,” said Love, who over that same four-game stretch has completed 90 of 138 passes (65.2%) for 1,107 yards with eight TDs and two INTs (103.1 rating).
Obviously, Christian’s got our trust. He’s just going out there and making plays right now. It was a big-time performance by him.”
Packers earn high marks on both sides of the ball in Thanksgiving win over the Lions
After Watson’s four-game breakthrough last season, defenses keyed on him and he couldn’t keep up his breakneck big-play pace in the four games that followed (14 catches for 154 yards and one TD on 26 targets).
But he did close his rookie year with a big game against the Lions in the team’s season-ending loss (five catches for 104 yards, including a 45-yarder), and Watson knows he must parlay his recent production into more consistency.
