Matthew Golden’s season has been a roller coaster, and Sunday in Week 7 brought the kind of ugly snapback that can happen when a breakout player runs into a wall.
The Packers didn’t leave Detroit with a win, but this wasn’t some complete collapse either. Green Bay had chances to steal it, and the margin in that game felt thin enough that a few bigger plays could have flipped the result. Still, one of the clearest warning signs came from Golden, who turned in a rough afternoon against the Lions.
The second-year receiver didn’t handle the middle of the field well and had trouble shaking Roger McCreary. He looked unsettled, struggled with the physical side of the matchup, and never really found a rhythm. The drops weren’t the issue this time, but his uneven play finally caught up to him.
Golden has already piled up seven drops this season, and his profile still swings wildly from one snap to the next. He’ll either make a glaring mistake or burst free for a chunk gain.
The talent shows up. So does the inconsistency.
He finished with six catches on 12 targets for 39 yards, a stat line that captures the problem pretty cleanly. On paper, the volume looks strong.
In reality, he’s not converting enough of the easier chances. That raises a fair question about whether the Packers should keep feeding him at that rate until he cleans up the rough edges.
A smarter approach might be to build in a few easy touches and simpler completions, letting his speed create opportunities instead of asking him to win on the biggest, hardest throws every time. That would give him a better chance to hit explosive plays without making the offense dependent on the deep shot.
Golden is too talented to ignore, and he’s already shown he can be a dangerous playmaker. But Green Bay has to make sure he doesn’t become a one-dimensional weapon. McCreary and the Lions offered a clear way to bother him, and other defenses will study that film closely.
In Other News...
Packers Just Got Another Harsh Reminder About Jared Goff
Jared Goff keeps finding ways to make the Packers pay, and his latest outing in Detroit was another reminder of how comfortably he is running the Lions' offense. In the Week 7 meeting, Green Bay had him in a tight game, but Goff still guided Detroit to a 20-17 win while continuing the kind of early-season production that has made the Lions one of the league's most efficient passing teams.
The uncomfortable part for Green Bay is how cleanly Goff picked apart the defense in the areas it needed to hold up most. He was especially effective against zone looks, and the Packers had few answers as the Lions kept the passing game on schedule and avoided mistakes. Through seven games, Goff has not thrown an interception, and that blend of accuracy and control is becoming a familiar problem for Green Bay. [Read more 🡒]
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Xavier McKinney has been among the Packers voices pushing back, and he was hardly alone. Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter also weighed in on the broader problem, underscoring how the conversation has shifted from isolated complaints to a wider annoyance with how games are being called. For Green Bay, it is not just about one bad break or one rough sequence, but the growing sense that officiating has become too inconsistent to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Are Putting Too Much On Jordan Love Right Now
Jordan Love has been asked to do a lot for the Packers early on, and Jeff Saturday made sure to point out why on ESPNs First Take. Saturday defended Love by stressing the problems around him, from a heavy number of dropped passes to a run game that has not offered much help, along with pass protection issues that have made the offense even harder to sustain.
Love offered a similar view after Green Bays loss to the Detroit Lions, saying the run game needs to improve and expressing optimism about what Josh Jacobs can bring after his first appearance of the season. For a Packers offense still searching for rhythm, Jacobs return matters because it could give Love more balance and take some of the burden off his shoulders. [Read more 🡒]