The Packers decided to build their wide receiver group around Christian Watson and Matthew Golden this season and that decision was a resounding success on Sunday.
Golden was the star early as he caught seven passes for 150 yards and a touchdown in the first half to help the Packers to a 24-14 lead at the break. Watson had four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in the second half and the Packers cruised to a 45-27 win that improves their record to 6-3 on the season.
Watson finished with seven catches for 171 yards while Golden had 10 catches for 164 yards on the day. It’s the fourth time that the Packers have had two wideouts with at least 150 yards in a game and both players set career highs for their receiving yards in a single game.
Jordan Love was 23-of-29 for 372 yards before giving way to Tyrod Taylor in garbage time. His first touchdown pass of the game was to Golden and that gave him 100 for his career. He threw a touchdown to Savion Williams to make it three on the day and opened the scoring with a touchdown run.
All of the offensive exploits were matched by an opportunistic defensive outing. Safety Xavier McKinney intercepted Patriots quarterback Drake Maye’s first pass of the day and Maye threw two more before also heading to the bench for the final minutes of the blowout. He was sacked four times and the prospect of adding Micah Parsons to that kind of effort is the sort of thing that will have Packer backers thinking big when they look toward a possible playoff berth.
The Packers did lose running back Josh Jacobs to a hand injury in the first quarter, so it wasn’t all good news for them over the course of the win. Kaleb Johnson showed well with 11 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown, but the health of the backfield will be something to monitor heading into a big NFC North matchup with the Vikings next Sunday.
The Patriots will get a transatlantic flight to use as part of their recovery process from the loss. They will face the Lions in Munich next Sunday and back-to-back losses to NFC North teams will send them into their bye week with a .500 record.
Good news about cornerback Carlton Davis and right guard Ben Brown after they left Sunday’s loss with injuries would help their chances. The same is true of getting wide receiver A.J. Brown back into the lineup, but it will likely be a few days before there’s much of an update on that front.