The Green Bay Packers are 8-8 and must win their last game of the season to advance to the NFL Playoffs for the second year in a row. Last year, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers were defeated at home by the Detroit Lions. Jordan Love and the franchise’s youngest offense will face the Chicago Bears in Week 18 at Lambeau Field to determine their postseason fate.
It’s been a long road for the Packers and their offense. After starting the season 2-5, they have put together an incredible second half to put themselves in control of their own destiny. Love has a 68.2% completion percentage, 1,834 yards, 16 touchdowns, and one interception in the last seven weeks.
He is the only quarterback in the NFL this season to achieve those stats in seven games. The last NFL quarterback to do it in a seven-game span was Rodgers in 2021, the year he earned his fourth NFL MVP Award (according to the Packers’ cheat sheet).
Love’s improvement in the second part of the season has paralleled the rise of the young Packers talent players. Jayden Reed, the team’s rookie wide receiver, has been one of the team’s finest offensive players down the stretch.
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Jayden Reed had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in Green Bay Packers history.
When it comes to Packers wide receiver rookie seasons, the gold standard is Billy Howton’s 1952 campaign. Howton collected 53 receptions, 1,231 yards (which led the NFL that year), and 12 touchdowns in his debut year with Green Bay. At the time, all three stats were franchise marks for rookies, and the yards and touchdown records still remain.
When Sterling Sharpe recorded 55 receptions as a rookie in 1988, he shattered Howton’s team record. Sharpe also had 791 receiving yards and one touchdown that season.
As many fans are aware, Reed broke the rookie receptions record against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night. This season, he has 60 receptions for 681 yards and eight touchdowns.
Even with one game remaining in the regular season, Reed’s rookie season might be argued to be the second-best in franchise history.
Jayden Reed of the Green Bay Packers has accomplished something that no rookie in NFL history has done.
Reed has 119 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns this season, in addition to his strong receiving numbers. These figures, combined with his receiving accomplishments, have put him in a league of his own in NFL history.
Reed is the only rookie in NFL history, according to the Packers’ dope sheet, to have:
- 60+ receptions
- 650+ receiving yards
- Eight-plus receiving touchdowns
- 100+ receiving yards
- Two-plus rushing touchdowns
In recent years, the Packers have found terrific wide receivers in the second round of the draft. Among them are Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and Davante Adams.
And Reed has had a better rookie season than any of them. Green Bay might have discovered their next great wide receiver.
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