Rookies on a Roll as Packers Edge Chargers

 By Eric Goska

Members of the Tundra Line performed before the Packers-Chargers game.
(photos by Eric Goska)

On Thanksgiving Day, Green Bay’s rookie pass catchers could make history in front of a national television audience.

Newbies have played a major role in the Packers’ passing game this season. Their importance was again on display as the Green and Gold outlasted the Chargers 23-20 at Lambeau Field.

Six rookies hauled in at least one pass as Green Bay posted its highest point total since mid-September. Each catch proved vital as the Packers didn’t pull ahead of Los Angeles for good until late in the fourth quarter.

Youth is at the heart of Green Bay’s receiving corps. Ten of the 14 players with a reception this season are in their first or second year in the league.

Seven are rookies. And that septet is making an impact in Titletown.

Luke Musgrave (33 catches for 341 yards), Jayden Reed (32-463), Dontayvion Wicks (20-331), Tucker Kraft (5-43), Emanuel Wilson (4-23), Ben Sims (2-14) and Malik Heath (1-7) have accounted for 97 of Green Bay’s 204 completions and 1,222 of its 2,345 passing yards. The group has amassed six receiving touchdowns (Reed 4, Musgrave 1 and Wicks 1).

Six of those seven – Sims was not targeted by Packers quarterback Jordan Love – combined for 15 receptions and 213 yards against the Chargers. They came away with 10 of Green Bay’s 16 receiving first downs and four of its six passing gains of 20 or more yards. 

Packers fans had reason to cheer Sunday.

Wicks, with catches of 29, 27 and 35 yards, led all Packers with 91 receiving yards. Reed (4 catches for 46 yards) and Musgrave (4-28) tied second-year wideout Romeo Doubs for the most targets with six.

Wilson (1-9) and Heath (1-7) aided a 16-play, 71-yard advance that knotted the score at 10-all just before halftime. Kraft (2-32) tight-roped along the sideline for 27 to set up a Love-to-Christian-Watson TD pass that put Green Bay up 16-13.

And in crunch time, his team down by four, Wicks drew a 24-yard pass interference call on Asante Samuel that erased third-and-20. Two plays later, he gained 35 to set up the game-winning score, a 24-yard connection from Love to Doubs with two minutes, 33 seconds remaining.

With 15 catches, Musgrave and Co. came within one catch of Green Bay’s single-game record for rookies. That mark of 16 was set Max McGee (9), Joe Johnson (6) and Gary Knafelc (1) on Dec. 12, 1954 in Los Angeles and tied by Sterling Sharpe (8) and Keith Woodside (8) against the Lions in Milwaukee in 1988.

With 213 receiving yards, Reed et al. came up 11 yards short of the yardage record for rookies. That standard (224) was established by Bill Howton (200), Bill Reichardt (16) and Bobby Jack Floyd (8) in Los Angeles in 1952.

A week ago in Pittsburgh, Reed (84), Musgrave (64), Wicks (51) and Kraft (6) gobbled up 205 yards. This is the first time in team annals that rookies have hit or exceeded 200 yards in back-to-back games. 

Jordan Love had his first 300-yard passing game (322) of his career.

So, what can this group of seven do for an encore? How about eclipsing a couple of longstanding season records?

Kraft and his colleagues need just seven catches to break the single-season rookie record of 103 catches put in place by Ray Pelfrey (38), Carlton Elliott (35), Fred Cone (28), Dick Moje (1) and Ace Loomis (1) in 1951. Further, the group needs an additional 157 yards to top the 1,378 of Howton (1,231), Floyd (129) and Reichardt (18) in 1952.

With the way these youngsters and their quarterback have been playing, both benchmarks could fall in Detroit.

Rookies Rule!
Most receptions by Packers rookies in one season.

   No.   Yards   TDs    Year    Rookies
   103     1,114       10       1951      Pelfrey, Elliott, Cone, Moje, Loomis
     98     1,193        3       1988     Sharpe, Woodside, Bolton, Collins
     97     1,222        6       2023     Musgrave, Reed, Wicks, Kraft, Wilson, Sims, Heath
     88     1,118       11       2022     Doubs, Watson, Toure
     82     1,023        5       1987     Neal, Lee Morris, Paskett, Scott, Harden, Fullwood, Willhite
     80        928        2      2007     Jones, Jackson, Wynn, Hall

Note: Packers rookies combined for 80 receptions in 2007, not 110 as stated in the team’s Dope Sheet released prior to the Chargers game. The team erroneously included 30 catches by Ryan Grant who was a first-year player – he spent all of 2005 on the Giants’ practice squad – and not a rookie that year.