WINNERS:
CHRISTIAN WATSON, wide receiver
Watson definitely showed fans what he can do during the week one game. In the game, he totaled up 147 yards and two touchdowns. He had faced many injury problems in his Packers career. When given a big contract extension this off-season many people called it an “overpay” for a receiver who didn’t have much playing time because of injuries. Watson basically “gave the finger” to those people, putting up massive numbers to show he deserves the money.
EDGERRIN COPPER, linebacker
Copper gave light to this Packers defense and was one of the lead tacklers in the week one game. He recorded six tackles, one assisted tackle, and one sack on the quarterback. During the off-season people couldn’t help but notice the Copper was everywhere. His efforts during training with the help of Jonathan Gannon’s new defense definitely aided to his success during the game.
KEISON NIXON, cornerback
From fighting for his starting job this off-season, to getting an interception the first throwing play of the game, Nixon really showed excellence during the game. In the game he got one interception with a return of 11 yards, three tackles, and even helped with a sack. Nixon had felt like he was “being punished” when coaches made his starting cornerback position a competition with two of the rookies and veteran Carrington Valentine.
LOSERS:
ALL OF THE OFFENSIVE LINE
For anyone who watched the game it is obvious that the offensive line got beat up by the Vikings pass rush. With many of the offensive line being new to their position, Jordan Love was hit 18 times and sacked four times. On average, Love only had about 2.3 seconds to get the ball off and was forced to get rid of the ball extremely fast. Head coach, Matt LaFleur, spoke about the offensive line saying there are “things we need to clean up.” Some fans also wonder if they might start rookie left guard Jager Burton for some positive change.
MATT LAFLEUR, head coach
The biggest turning point of the games was the decision by LaFleur to take the three points off the board and go for it on fourth down and not get it. After that, the Packer did not score again. The offensive simply could not handle the defense and the play calling from Lafleur was called into question. Another fourth down came in the fourth quarter and LaFleur called a swing play, a run that is swung to one side of the field, and didn’t get the first down again. When asked about the play he explained he thought that was what the defense was giving them.
BRANDON CISSE, cornerback
Did Cisse have a bad game necessarily? No, definitely not. The rookie cornerback won his starting position on the Packers and was given a tough match-up to start his rookie year, guarding Justin Jefferson. On a free play, a play where there was already a penalty on the defense pre-snap so the offense gains the ability to do a high- risk play, Carson Wentz sent the ball down the field to Jefferson who was being guarded by Cisse. Jefferson ended up catching the ball due to Cisse back-pedalling and tripping and they gained a touchdown. Other than that Cisse only was able to tally up one tackle in the game.
