More injuries and games missed in rookie year than catches. What an accomplishment.
I guess the problem with being really fast is that you hit a brick wall really fast. all this motion/jet sweep stuff leaves him running into lanes where he is going to have his cappa - de-tated. maybe we have to temper speed with being ready to play...
I absolutely hate, hate, hate to say that pickens should have been the guy in that spot, but...so far, and in 5 years I can be called a knucklehead, but this season, that pickens shure could have helped today's team out. boy.
@pkr_north posted:I absolutely hate, hate, hate to say that pickens should have been the guy in that spot, but...so far, and in 5 years I can be called a knucklehead, but this season, that pickens shure could have helped today's team out. boy.
I know what you mean but I still have to have faith/hope/a feeling that Watson's going to turn out alright. No regrets yet.
@BrainDed posted:
Nice hair, BK's new avatar?
The hamstring this is a concern for sure. Those tend to come back over and over - see: MVS, Clay, etc.
But nailing a guy over getting a concussion is pretty fucking dumb. No wait, it's really fucking dumb.
Watson needs to hit the weight room in the off season and I really think a lot of this soft tissue shit will be put to bed. Diet, sleep etc believe it or not will play a big role too. He’s learning what “NFL shape” is vs good conditioning is. It’s a big difference. I have faith in the kid. Several players and coaches have noted both him and Doubs initiative and wanting to do well is very apparent. Much like a young Rashan Gary was as a rookie.
Have faith grasshoppers.
@pkr_north posted:I absolutely hate, hate, hate to say that pickens should have been the guy in that spot, but...so far, and in 5 years I can be called a knucklehead, but this season, that pickens shure could have helped today's team out. boy.
Pickens was the safe pick. I don't think his ceiling is much more than a 6 or 7 out of 10 (sort of like a James Jones), but his floor is also about a 4 or 5. You know he'll at least be a solid NFL WR.
Watson could be a 9 or a 1. He has the physical skills to be a perennial Pro Bowler, but he wasn't even that dominant at an FCS school.
Trading both 1s for Chris Olave would have been the better move.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/11...-colts-saturday-mmqb
Its great to read Watsons breakdown of the plays. He is showing an impressive understanding of reading the defense. Hopefully its all coming together now
"It was just a straight-up go route on my side,” Watson said. “I knew that if they were going to play with that one-high safety away that I was an option there, and 12 [Rodgers] told me before the play the same thing. So I already kind of knew what to expect. The defender was playing a little flat-footed; so I know I just have to win off the line, and get outside, and then just look up and catch the ball. I knew right off the line that there was a big possibility for that to come my way and obviously I went off the line, and the rest is history.”
• The second TD came with the Packers trailing 28–14, on a fourth-and-7 at the Dallas 39 with just under 14 minutes left. Watson, running a crosser, got past nickel corner DaRon Bland, which is where Rodgers found him.
“That was a play that we called a few times throughout the game,” Watson said. “We really liked that route specifically, with the way they were playing with their one-high look, their man looks. We knew if we were going to get matched with that one-high, all I had to do was break a flat and get open. It was obviously the look we wanted, and I had to kind of adjust a little bit off the release.
“He [Bland] was playing a little bit more inside than I thought he was going to, so I broke outside of him and then just flattened off at the top of the route and obviously 12 just put it in the right spot and it worked out.”
• The third came on first-and-goal from the 7, with the Packers still down 28–21, and less than three minutes to go. At that point, it was pretty clear to everyone that Watson would be in play in the red zone.
“The third one was a play we were trying to get to a few times throughout the night; it was obviously a play we really wanted to get to in that red zone area,” Watson said. “We were just waiting for the right look. And on that specific one, we finally got the look that we were wanting. And I just knew with the low safety to the left, the other safety kind of scooted over to our right side. Then all I had to do was when the crossing space was beat, I just ran.”
Watson is a lot like Gary- a guy they drafted based significantly on upside. Understand completely the fan frustration over the growing pains but some of the comments yesterday basically writing off his NFL career after his rough start to the game were ridiculous.
I was close to writing him off mostly because of concussions more than anything else. The good news was that he didn’t actually have a concussion the last time he was pulled from a game so he may be better off in that aspect than I thought.
His talent is obvious though. Incredibly fast and enough short area quickness to get off the line cleanly. Just needs to stay healthy and work hard on fixing the rough parts of his game and he can be a very good player.
That breakdown is a great example of a look behind the curtain on what WR's have to do physically and mentally to be effective in the NFL. "Just get open" is right, but there is so much that can go into that.
DH, I agree. He has been working on tracking the ball when he doesn’t have to look back at the QB to find it. I am sure he did not have the skill at ND , nor did he need it like he does with #12.
He is the most valuable receiver we have due to his threat to go vertical, which none of our other receivers can do. With Lazard as a "possession guy", and Cobb as a slot, an effective Watson makes our WR corp look a lot better.
His issues are his issues, and they were on display yesterday again, as well. I haven’t seen anyone say he’s not smart or athletic, and nobody wants him not to succeed. Rodgers was dropping dimes and he still had multiple drops. It’s such a mixed bag.
The Cowboys didn’t bother putting any coverage attention on him, which certainly helped.
on the go TD, for example, he did a solid job of staying inside and leaving Rodgers space to put the ball over his outside shoulder. The catch was an ugly bushel basket variety, though.
His 3rd TD was a complete gimme, but he had some technique catching that one rather than looking like a Karate Kid cosplayer as he did on his first and most of the game.
It’s one game and hopefully it will give him confidence, but it’s way too damned early to claim he’s arrived.
I agree 100% with that breakdown of his catches. However the over the shoulder grab on the go route is actually a pretty tough grab unless you've done it a 1000 times. It wasn't graceful, but that he caught it was encouraging.
@PackerPatrick posted:DH, I agree. He has been working on tracking the ball when he doesn’t have to look back at the QB to find it. I am sure he did not have the skill at ND , nor did he need it like he does with #12.
Watson said in his presser, he is NOT supposed to look back at the QB to find it (the QB has already thrown it), he supposed to look up to find it.
After he masters that he can hide his reaction to the ball and put his hands up at the last second so as not to tip off the DB too early that the ball has arrived.
@Herschel posted:His issues are his issues, and they were on display yesterday again, as well. I haven’t seen anyone say he’s not smart or athletic, and nobody wants him not to succeed. Rodgers was dropping dimes and he still had multiple drops. It’s such a mixed bag.
The Cowboys didn’t bother putting any coverage attention on him, which certainly helped.
on the go TD, for example, he did a solid job of staying inside and leaving Rodgers space to put the ball over his outside shoulder. The catch was an ugly bushel basket variety, though.
His 3rd TD was a complete gimme, but he had some technique catching that one rather than looking like a Karate Kid cosplayer as he did on his first and most of the game.
It’s one game and hopefully it will give him confidence, but it’s way too damned early to claim he’s arrived.
Like you say, the Cowboys really didn’t give their full attention to Watson and paid for it with an upset loss.
Going forward he’s going to be treated as a threat and maybe even will see double coverage. Both Watson and the Pack will have to find some counters to take advantage of it if they do start treating him as the #1 threat of the Packers’ receiving corps.
Should make guys like Lazard and Cobb work the MOF more easily if Watson can keep pulling guys deep. Tonyan could benefit too.
@DH13 posted:Should make guys like Lazard and Cobb work the MOF more easily if Watson can keep pulling guys deep. Tonyan could benefit too.
I like to see more short crossing patterns as well .
He has a ridiculous burst as evidenced on the third TD
His time has come.
@DH13 posted:After he masters that he can hide his reaction to the ball and put his hands up at the last second so as not to tip off the DB too early that the ball has arrived.
Adams was the best at that skill.
Quite obviously the Packers have surpassed everyone in modern sports medicine. The hand transplants on Watson worked wonders after he dropped several passes early on.
Next up: Amari Rodgers.
@Tschmack posted:More injuries and games missed in rookie year than catches. What an accomplishment.
Well I guess he meets your standards now so can we give IT a rest. 
Alphabet doesn’t know how to give it a rest. He’s still fondling his TJ Watt doll
@Iowacheese posted:Alphabet doesn’t know how to give it a rest. He’s still fondling his TJ Watt doll
Whenever I see Tschmack I am reminded of a sign I saw at the Metrodome back in the early ‘90’s. “Hey Hrbek, Get a Vowel”
@FLPACKER posted:Watson said in his presser, he is NOT supposed to look back at the QB to find it (the QB has already thrown it), he supposed to look up to find it.
Exactly!
@DH13 posted:After he masters that he can hide his reaction to the ball and put his hands up at the last second so as not to tip off the DB too early that the ball has arrived.
The proverbial “late hands”.
@FLPACKER posted:Watson said in his presser, he is NOT supposed to look back at the QB to find it (the QB has already thrown it), he supposed to look up to find it.
This reminds me of a football game I watched years ago where the WR was running downfield pursued by a DB, and the ball dropped helplessly to the field several yards away. Neither WR or DB stopped running until the whistle blew. The announcer said, "Well, he lost that one in the sun." Don't remember the teams, the announcer, or the year.
@D J posted:Quite obviously the Packers have surpassed everyone in modern sports medicine. The hand transplants on Watson worked wonders after he dropped several passes early on.
Next up: Amari Rodgers.
He also needs a brain transplant and a transplant to another team would be even better.
@Herschel posted:His issues are his issues, and they were on display yesterday again, as well. I haven’t seen anyone say he’s not smart or athletic, and nobody wants him not to succeed. Rodgers was dropping dimes and he still had multiple drops. It’s such a mixed bag.
The Cowboys didn’t bother putting any coverage attention on him, which certainly helped.
on the go TD, for example, he did a solid job of staying inside and leaving Rodgers space to put the ball over his outside shoulder. The catch was an ugly bushel basket variety, though.
His 3rd TD was a complete gimme, but he had some technique catching that one rather than looking like a Karate Kid cosplayer as he did on his first and most of the game.
It’s one game and hopefully it will give him confidence, but it’s way too damned early to claim he’s arrived.
His hand placement is a mess. I think that can be coached though.
@fightphoe93 posted:Like you say, the Cowboys really didn’t give their full attention to Watson and paid for it with an upset loss.
Going forward he’s going to be treated as a threat and maybe even will see double coverage. Both Watson and the Pack will have to find some counters to take advantage of it if they do start treating him as the #1 threat of the Packers’ receiving corps.
Yes, the counter is to RTFB.
Nice video of Watson's breakout game.