The story of this 2023 Packers team is still ongoing, but after Sunday, one thing was that was certainly on full display in Pittsburgh: Growth.
Jayden Reed with a big day – leading the team in yards, and receptions, to go along with a touchdown. Luke Musgrave making a big play late. Dontayvion Wicks, who continues to look like a steal from last year’s draft class, and of course, a first-year starter, Jordan Love — all of them, making huge plays against one of the league’s best defenses.
Of Love’s 289 yards on Sunday, 199 of them went to those three rookies. That’s progress.
Look, when the Packers decided to trade away number 12 this past April, this is something each one of us knowingly signed up for.
We wanted to see the growth. We wanted to see the progress, and we knew there would be ups and downs.
This was supposed to be expected, and on Sunday, it was a positive step forward for the league’s youngest team.
If your expectations were raised after trading Aaron Rodgers, then I don’t know if there’s any way this will help you.
Yes, there were mistakes. Yes, there were missed blocks, missed throws, and untimely turnovers, but this is the ugly part of rebuilding. This is the part no one likes to talk about.
You have to fall down before you can get back up, and on Sunday, to me, this team got back up and almost won a game when their defense gave up over 200 yards on the ground to the opposing team.
This was the way this Packer season was always going to go. Anything more or anything anything less was just unrealistic.
At the end of the day, we saw a lot of positive growth, even despite the loss, and if you are still failing to see that, turn the game back on, re-watch it, take the sting out of the loss, and then get back to me.
