Matt LaFleur's Christian Watson Injury Update Will Concern Packers Fans
By Jovan Alford
The Green Bay Packers won their second-straight game on Monday night, defeating the New Orleans Saints 34-0 at Lambeau Field. It was a dominating performance on both sides of the ball, as the Packers clinched a playoff berth for the second straight and the fifth time in the last six years of Matt LaFleur's tenure.
However, it wasn’t all good for Green Bay. Starting wide receiver Christian Watson exited Monday night’s game in the third quarter after suffering an apparent knee injury in the second quarter.
Watson picked up the lower body injury on an end around inside the red zone as two Saints defenders landed on his left knee. After the win on Monday night, LaFleur said there’s concern about the young receiver’s knee injury, per Zach Kruse of the Packers Wire.
The Packers head coach also told reporters they will do more testing and hope to have an answer on Tuesday. After the game, Watson also said a few words about his knee injury, telling the media that it hurt right away and was lingering a little bit.
“It definitely hurt right away, but it felt like it was good enough to go back in, so I went back in and it was feeling all right," he said (h/t ESPN’s Rob Demovsky). "But it was just kind of lingering a little bit and I just couldn't play the type of football I wanted to play, so I just had to shut it down."
The Packers will hope Watson will not miss an extended period as he’s their best deep-threat wide receiver. Heading into Monday night’s game against the Saints, the former North Dakota State star had nine receptions (17 targets) for 237 yards in his last three games.
He also averaged 26.3 yards per reception despite having a pedestrian 52.9 catch percentage over that span. If Watson misses time, it could open up more opportunities for second-year wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks, who had three receptions (seven targets) for 13 yards and a TD in Monday night’s win.
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