Green Bay Packers: 3 Biggest Surprises Through 13 Games
By Paul Bretl
Allen Lazard
Throughout the offseason and even into the regular season we’ve all wondered about who would step up and be the Green Bay Packers’ No. 2 receiver behind Davante Adams. The logical choices were Geronimo Allison or Marquez Valdes-Scantling, however, Allison has had a rough season to put it nicely, while MVS has disappeared in recent weeks. But to the surprise of everyone, except for maybe Allen Lazard, he has become Aaron Rodgers’ next favorite wide receiver target.
Coming off of the practice squad, Lazard really didn’t see any action until the fourth quarter of the Monday Night game against Detroit when the Packers were trailing late and Rodgers told Matt LaFleur to give him a shot. And in that big moment, Lazard would not disappoint as he caught four of five passes for 65 yards, along with this beautiful touchdown catch:
https://twitter.com/AABonNBC/status/1183940197085515776
Since that game Lazard has caught 74 percent of his passes for 284 yards at over 14 yards per catch with a touchdown. This includes a game just over a week ago against the Giants where he had his first 100 yard receiving game of his career. Not to mention that during that span he is second in receptions, targets, and yards, only to Adams.
But perhaps more important than the numbers is that he has the trust and confidence of Rodgers to go to him in big situations. Now it is time for LaFleur and the coaching staff to start giving him more opportunities and treating him like a No. 2 wide receiver.
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Bonus: The Green Bay Packers
Yes, they have Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback and Gutekunst’ offseason additions have performed incredibly well, but with a rookie head coach they are 10-3, lead the NFC North and control their own fate to a first-round bye. As I mentioned previously, they haven’t always won pretty, but if at the beginning of the season you would have told me they’d be in this position heading into week 15, I surely wouldn’t have believed you. This season has been a very pleasant surprise.