Pressure not just on Christian Watson with Packers hard-pressed to replace Davante Adams | Opinion

GREEN BAY, Wis. — It seemed fitting as the Lambeau Field crowd roared with approval on Sunday after Christian Watson hauled in a 58-yard touchdown that the Green Bay Packers rookie receiver punctuated the moment in the end zone with a perfect backflip.

The way this debut season has gone for Watson – with glaring drops, injury setbacks and second-guessing against the backdrop of enormous pressure – the TD celebration was quite the symbolic gesture.

After flipping himself upside down, Watson stuck a perfect “10” as he landed on his feet.

Exhale, Cheeseheads. Watson, who wound up notching his first three receiving TDs as a pro during the overtime upset of the Dallas Cowboys, demonstrated that he may in fact live up to the lofty billing. And it started with that one over-the-shoulder-catch-and-run.

Don’t just take it from me. Aaron Rodgers, the marquee quarterback who lost his house money target during the offseason when Davante Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders, undoubtedly felt the jolt.

“That first one, I feel like was that monkey, the 800-pound gorilla, off his back,” Rodgers told reporters after Watson’s big breakout game.

Of course, Watson will be poised to show a bit more in a follow-up act against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night as the Packers (4-6) hope to play themselves back into playoff contention after snapping a five-game losing streak.

“Obviously, I’m grateful for what happened out there,” Watson said of his Sunday heroics, “but there are still things I can improve on.”

Like consistency. Remember, Watson, who the Packers moved up to draft in the second round from North Dakota State, opened the season by dropping a beautiful dime from Rodgers on the Packers’ first drive in Week 1 at Minnesota – which turned out to be a precursor to a rout.

On Sunday, it looked shaky with two early drops. “It started out rough again,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur reflected. Yet Watson flipped the script and finished with four catches for 107 yards, including a tough, sliding, 3-yard third-down haul midway through the fourth quarter that kept alive a game-tying drive – “His best catch of the night,” Rodgers proclaimed – that he capped with a 7-yard score. He became the first Packers rookie to notch three receiving TDs since James Lofton in 1978.

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Like Rodgers, LaFleur sensed that the long TD catch had multiple layers.

“Not to reflect on the past,” LaFleur said, “but Week 1, he was in the same situation ... and to see him come down with it, I think it was a pivotal moment in his career where that gives him the confidence.”

Pivotal to his career? That’s significant. Greg Jennings knows. Jennings, the former Packers star receiver, senses that we have just witnessed Watson’s turning point.

“We’ve all had that pivotal moment, that breakthrough, when it clicked,” Jennings told USA TODAY Sports. “You know your talent and ability, but everybody else saw it for the first time.”

Jennings, who played the first seven seasons of his 10-year NFL career with the Packers, was the go-to target during Rodgers’ first season as a starter in 2008. He also remembers what it was like as a second-round rookie in 2006, when he caught one pass for 5 yards in Week 1 – then ripped off a pair of 100-yard games that included two long TDs, which bolstered his confidence in addition to gaining the trust of quarterback Brett Favre.

We’ll see whether Watson will build on this moment. He’ll have his chances for a team and quarterback who need him. Yet there’s still the unpredictability of the growth process until proven otherwise. Rodgers has been impressed by the rookie’s mental approach, which includes visualization techniques.

“He’s always been a guy who asks really good questions,” Rodgers said, “and you can tell he cares about it.”

Yet Watson has also struggled with the difficult over-the-shoulder catches, apparently needing to track the ball better while it is in flight. After the early drops on Sunday, Rodgers sensed that Watson reset himself on the sideline.

“I kind of came over to him and said, ‘Ball is still coming your way, buddy. Let’s get one of these, let’s make a play,’“ Rodgers said.

That’s been the expectation all along with the athletically gifted Watson pegged to replace Adams. Talk about pressure. Adams only set franchise records last season with 123 catches and 1,553 receiving yards to go with his 11 TDs. And that pressure is not only on the player. Packers GM Brian Gutekunst dealt away Rodgers’ best weapon, then rolled heavily on Watson in the draft.

Jennings sees the conditions facing Watson as a bit more challenging than other targets in recent years who developed into stars, including Jennings, Adams, Jordy Nelson and James Jones.

“There hasn’t been any receiver, at least since I was drafted, that had to be ‘the guy’ right away,” said Jennings, now an analyst for Fox Sports 1 and for the website, The 33rd Team. “We always had someone still carrying the torch ... I started as a rookie, but I still had Donald Driver.”

The Packers brought back Allen Lazard as the No. 1 receiver, technically. And Randall Cobb is back on his second stint in Green Bay. Veteran Sammy Watkins is in the mix, too. Yet injuries have wreaked so much havoc on the crew of wideouts, which includes the three games missed by Watson (pulled thigh/hamstring, concussion) after having minor knee surgery during the offseason.

Still, there’s no denying the shift in momentum now surrounding the rookie.

“He’s had arguably the roughest start that any of us had,” Jennings said, pondering the collection of Packers receivers in recent years.

Yet, as the backflip may symbolize, it’s not always about the start.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christian Watson, Aaron Rodgers new favorite target? Packers hope so