Packers Enter Playoffs With Big Questions at Receiver

The Green Bay Packers will go into Sunday’s wild-card playoff game at the Dallas Cowboys with their typical injury-related questions at receiver.

Their two veteran receivers, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, missed all (Watson) or most (Doubs) of the victory over Chicago. Watson missed a fifth consecutive game with a hamstring injury while Doubs was limited to 11 snaps after suffering what was labeled a chest injury when he fell to the turf hard trying to pull down a pass in the end zone.

Doubs was spitting up blood on the sideline. Initially, he thought it was a bloody lip, so he pedaled a stationary bike on the sideline to stay warm. When the Packers took possession of the ball with 14:02 to go in the second quarter, Doubs joined his teammates in the huddle during the commercial break, only to go back to the bike on the sideline.

From there, he went to the locker room and to the hospital, though he was out of the hospital and in the locker room after the game.

“It seems to be he’s doing better, so, but he’ll be day to day, I would say,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

On Wednesday last week, Watson seemed relatively certain that he’d be on the field against Chicago.

“My passion is playing football, so now it’s looking a lot like I’m going to be able to play some football this Sunday,” he said at the time.

However, Watson didn’t practice on Friday and was questionable on the injury report. His only running on Sunday was some pregame conditioning.

“He just wasn’t ready to play,” LaFleur said after the game. “I know it’s been extremely frustrating for him. I had a pretty good indication that it was probably trending that way. A little gamesmanship on my part. Sorry to lie to everybody.

“It’s one of those things that I know it’s really frustrating. We’ll see where he’s at this week, and I definitely wouldn’t rule him out. I just really don’t know. A lot of it comes down to the feel for him.”

Watson caught 41 passes for 611 yards and nine total touchdowns as a rookie, looking like a potential star during a big-play-filled stretch run. With hamstring injuries limiting him to only nine games this season, he finished with 28 catches for 422 yards and two touchdowns.

“That’s something that we’re going to have to tackle certainly when we get to the offseason,” LaFleur said.

With Watson and Doubs combining for zero catches, it was up to rookies Jayden Reed, Dontayion Wicks and Malik Heath and first-year player Bo Melton, who didn’t play in a regular-season game as a rookie, to pick up the slack at receiver.

And they did.

Led by six catches and two touchdowns by Wicks, who was inactive at Minnesota with a chest injury, and the first 100-yard game by Reed, who missed the second half at Minnesota with a chest injury, those four players combined to catch 18-of-22 targets for 244 yards.

Throw in rookie tight ends Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, and 22 of Jordan Love’s 27 completions and 286 of Love’s 316 yards were delivered by players who entered the season with zero NFL catches.

What makes that young group so successful?

“I think it’s the way they prepare,” LaFleur said. “I think it’s the way they compete on a daily basis. I was really proud of the effort. I know we all get caught up in the stats and what they’re doing in terms of the number of catches, receiving yards, touchdowns, all that, but I thought that it really showed how competitive they were in the run game.

“Just the effort, the physicality, the strain. I think when you get that from that corps, it just brings a different dimension to your offense, a different feel to your offense. And that’s something that we’re always looking for and I thought those guys really fought hard yesterday.”