Packers’ stumble against Browns exposes complacency, offensive struggles 3 Sep 21, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden (0) catches the ball during warm ups before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

Packers’ Matthew Golden sounds off on huge mistake, how he hopes to fix it

Originally posted on WI Sports Heroics | By Matt Lombardo | Last updated Sep 25, 2025 3:12 PM ET

Packers rookie wide receiver Matthew Golden essentially gave up what could have been his ‘welcome to the NFL’ moment and biggest play of his career, to date.

With just under 11 minutes remaining, Golden was able to leverage his track-star speed to get behind the Cleveland Browns secondary, break open, and pull down a 38-yard strike from Packers quarterback Jordan Love.

Here’s the problem; the play could have been much bigger, and potentially even made a significant impact in the Packers’ eventual 13-10 loss, had the first-round pick out of Texas not stepped out of bounds when there was little more than open field between him, the end zone, and an insurance touchdown for Green Bay.

“Looking back at it, it’s definitely a play I want back, man,” Golden told reporters on Wednesday. “I feel like the safety was a lot closer to me and I ended up going out of bounds. My momentum did take me out but, if I would’ve knew the safety wasn’t that close, I probably could’ve stayed inbounds.”

Golden finished with a career-high four catches for 55 yards, as he continues to rise up Love’s target hierarchy, carve out a more expanded role in the offense, and search for his first career touchdown that got away on that play.

Moving forward, Golden believes that his decision in the split second after making the catch could prove to be a teachable moment.

“For me, yeah. I’m always hard on myself,” he said. “That’s just because of what I expect out of myself. I know I can do those things. It could’ve been a big play for me. It’s something that I want back but I know I’m going to have a lot more opportunities to do that.”