The 2022 season is hanging on by a thread for the Green Bay Packers. All of the positive momentum that was built with their come-from-behind victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 10 was undone by their Thursday Night Football performance against the Tennessee Titans to kick off Week 11.
Green Bay surrendered a touchdown on the opening series of the game against Tennessee and never fully recovered. They trailed the entire game, eventually losing 27-17. Despite being a team accustomed to playing in wintry and built for it, it was the Titans that found all of the success in the conditions as Ryan Tannehill outplayed Aaron Rodgers.
While this season isn’t going to plan, as the Packers had Super Bowl aspirations coming into it, there are reasons for the organization to have optimism heading into the future. The biggest positive is that they seem to have found a young wide receiver duo to build around.
Rodgers has been asking for help for years. While some people will say this is too little too late, especially after the Packers traded away Davante Adams, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs have both shown signs of taking their performance to the next level.
Before an ankle injury sidelined him, Doubs, a fourth-round pick out of Nevada, was working his way up the pecking order. He was becoming a go-to receiver for Rodgers with other options sidelined, as he was targeted at least five times in five out of six games before the injury. His snap share was excellent as well, playing at least 82 percent of the offensive snaps in those six games as well.
Without Doubs in the lineup, Watson, a second-round pick out of North Dakota State, received his chance to break out. His career couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start as he dropped what would have been a 75-yard walk-in touchdown in the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.
In the last two games, Watson has been thrust into a bigger role and taken full advantage of it. Against the Cowboys, he caught four passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns. He followed that up with another two-score performance against the Titans, finishing with four receptions for 48 yards.
As long as those two continue developing at this rate, Rodgers will have two strong, young pass catchers to move forward with as long as he wants to play. Their ascension will be something that plays a big part in any decisions he makes about his playing future as Rodgers isn’t going to come back to play in another losing season; he wants to make sure he has a chance to compete.
With Watson and Doubs as his two pass catchers, the Packers’ offense should continue improving throughout the remainder of the season as they can gain important game experience. In the offseason, the two of them and Rodgers can work on honing that chemistry and cohesion which will lead to even better results in Year 2.
