Jordan Love’s Bomb to Christian Watson Set Tone as Packers Beat Lions
DETROIT – Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love went to bed on Wednesday night knowing the opening play call for Thursday’s game at the Detroit Lions.
He woke up having to convince coach Matt LaFleur to stick to his guns.
Call it Jordan Love’s first full-blown audible as the team’s starting quarterback.
“I almost changed that first play call,” LaFleur said after a 29-22 victory over the Lions on Thursday. “I was kind of mulling it over quite a bit and I texted Jordan this morning and told him I was going to change it to something else, and he said he wanted this call, so I said, ‘OK.’”
The Packers, notorious slow-starters this season, wanted to set the pace against one of the best teams in the NFL. So, after winning the opening coin toss, LaFleur took the unorthodox approach of taking the football to start the game.
“We wanted to start fast,” Love said. “We wanted to put the offense out there and set the tone. And that’s what we did.”
On the first play from scrimmage, with a capacity crowd raising the decibels to deafening levels, Love took the snap and fired deep to Christian Watson. The pass was a little underthrown but Watson made the play for a leaping catch for 53 yards to set up the opening touchdown.
Good thing Love’s power of persuasion was as good as his overall performance in toppling the first-place Lions.
“Wasn’t quite sure where thew ball was going to go,” LaFleur said. “Had a good idea it might go to Christian.”
Given the power of the Lions’ pass rush, LaFleur said he was worried about the lack of checkdown options on the play. But the offensive line, which was as magnificent as it was terrible in the Week 4 matchup, provided “phenomenal” protection on this play and throughout the day.
“I told Christian right before the game, I said, ‘Hey, there’s a good chance this play’s going to go to you,’” LaFleur said. “‘Just go up and attack the football,’ and he did exactly that.”
The ability of the offensive line to hold up against a jacked-up Lions front was at the forefront of LaFleur’s mind. But there was another potential source of trouble.
Watson.
On passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield this season, Watson had caught just 2-of-11 targets, according to Pro Football Focus. In contested-catch situations, he was only 1-of-6. It wasn’t all Watson’s fault; he and Love just hadn’t found that connection.
Packers WR Christian Watson set the tone vs. Detroit with this leaping catch.
Photo by Junfu Han/USA Today Sports Images
This pass wasn’t perfect, either, but Watson heeded LaFleur’s words and attacked the ball.
“Really just go to come down with it, got to find a way,” Watson said. “I think earlier in the season, there were a couple of those I didn’t come down with, so it’s been a focus of mine trying to find a way to make it happen, regardless. There’s going to be the perfect ball and then there’s going to be good defense sometimes, you’ve just got to find a way to make a play.”
Just like Love, Watson went to bed knowing he was a featured part of the opening play.
“It’s my dream,” to be the primary option to start the game, he said. “Just come out here and be able to make plays, to know what we’re starting off with me, got to go out there and make a play. That’s exactly the type of pressure and the type of anticipation I want going into a game, so that was huge.”
Watson delivered season highs of five receptions for 94 yards. One play after his big catch, he absorbed a big hit from Tracy Walker for a gain of 8. Two plays later, Love zipped a pass to Jayden Reed for the opening touchdown.
Late in the third quarter, Watson struck again with a catch of a perfectly thrown ball by Love for a 16-yard touchdown. It marked the second consecutive game with a touchdown for Watson after scoring only once in the first half of the season.
With that, he’ll go to bed on Thursday night with the same sort of energy he went to bed with on Wednesday night.
“It’s good. It sets me up for some great dreams, different ways of coming down with it, scoring and all that,” Watson said of knowing the first play might be coming his way. “I love going to bed knowing that there’s plays in the offense for me, especially starting off like that. It’s exactly the position I want to be in.”
