The Green Bay Packers ran an efficient offense in their win over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, and some of that is a credit to getting Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson back in the lineup. The two rookie receivers haven’t gotten much field time together this season, but they combined for nine catches totaling 101 yards against the Rams. Moving forward, the Packers offense should be able to play to its potential for the final three games.
Before Week 15, seeing Doubs and Watson on the field at the same time had been a rarity. Watson battled injuries through the first half of the season, while Doubs missed the last four games with an ankle injury. This labored Green Bay’s offense, which struggled to find any consistency. However, with both players healthy this week, it gave us a better look at what this offense can look like with their different skill sets at the team’s disposal.
Aaron Rodgers spoke a little bit about the differences between Doubs and Watson during his post-game press conference.
“Doubs is a very crisp route runner,” Rodgers said. “Romes (Romeo) has always been a little bit more polished as a route runner, and Christian is just so explosive. I thought Matt (LaFleur) did a good job of giving Romeo some routes where we needed his crispness and giving Christian opportunities to use his speed.”
Of course, it is one thing to listen to Rodgers and another to see what he is talking about. So, we are back with another film review, this time taking a closer look at the performances of both Doubs and Watson against the Rams.
Let’s start with a nice route from Doubs against off coverage. The play begins with Watson motioning to the other side of the field, leaving Doubs with plenty of room to operate. He sells the vertical, which buys him some cushion before cutting to the outside. The corner looks to drive on the out route as soon as Doubs makes his break, but this leads to a double move from Doubs, who chops his feet and then whips around to come back inside. Doubs’ route savvy creates plenty of separation and an easy throw for Rodgers. We also get to see a great hands catch from Doubs.
Here is another smooth route from Doubs. The vertical threat forces the corner to open his hips early, which gives Doubs a chance to maximize separation on a short in-breaker. Notice the sharpness of the angle Doubs takes on this route and how he loses no speed when making his cut. This is great attention to detail from a rookie.
Shifting over to Watson, we see how corners have to respect his speed. Again, the corner opens his hips early as Watson appears to be running a go route. However, after 10 yards, Watson throttles down and settles in for a curl. It just goes to show Watson is more than just a deep threat and can also use his speed for other routes.
This is what separates Doubs and Watson as route runners. Here, Watson runs a 15-yard dig. The route isn’t super clean as we see Watson drift upfield closer to the defender as he crosses over the middle. It gives the safety a better chance at forcing an incompletion, but Watson makes a contested catch, nonetheless.
No, Watson didn’t get into the endzone this week, but he got an assist for helping Aaron Jones. For starters, Watson is in this role because he is a tremendous blocker. It’s a simple swing pass, and Watson is tasked with making the key block. He does a great job of recognizing and digging out the nearest defender, who is flowing with Jones toward the flat. Great effort from Watson allows Jones to read the block that also disrupts the help defender coming downhill. It’s a beautiful play by Watson, who essentially takes out two defenders with one block. Here we see why Watson is such a special player and how he can impact the game even when the ball isn’t in his hands.
Let’s finish with a 3rd-and-1 play that uses Watson’s speed in a unique way. Watson is lined up behind the line of scrimmage on this play-action call and runs a slide route across the formation. It’s not overly complicated and allows Rodgers to get the ball in Watson’s hands quickly. Doubs is the vertical route on this play and rubs the defender who is supposed to be covering Watson. Because the defender is late, Watson makes an easy catch and has the leverage to use his speed to turn upfield. It’s a great play design and perfect for getting the ball in the hands of a playmaker.
Conclusion
All in all, I think Matt LaFleur said it best. Doubs and Watson have come a long way, and there is so much more in front of them. Doubs is already a good route runner with a chance to be great if he continues to work on his craft. Meanwhile, Watson is more than just a one-trick pony and could be one of the better all-around receivers in just a few years. Together, they give Green Bay’s offense two different skill sets that will make it tough on opposing defenses for years to come.
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