The Matthew Golden breakout game is coming just like Christian Watson: against the Dallas Cowboys

In 2022, the Packers had a rookie receiver start slowly, then go nuclear against the Dallas Cowboys. History is primed to repeat itself on Sunday in Dallas.

Matthew Golden is three plays away from standing among league leaders in receiving yards this season. Jordan Love missed him on fourth down for a would-be 33-yard touchdown against the Commanders on the game’s opening drive. Then, Love just overshot his rookie wideout on a could-have-been 92-yard touchdown later in that game. A 34-yard lightning strike on the right sideline should have been a 96-yard touchdown against the Cleveland Browns, but Golden appeared to lose vision of where he was on the field and went out of bounds.

If all three of those plays go as planned, he’s sitting at 255 yards on the season, top-five in the NFL, and the national dialogue centers around the brilliant move by the Packers to finally select a receiver in the first round.

But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

For the moment, Golden’s rookie season closely follows Christian Watson’s 2022 season, though without the preseason fanfare or injuries. Watson opened what turned out to be an inglorious year for the Green Bay Packers, coming off a knee surgery that limited his role in the offense. He mostly ran clearout routes, took the occasional jet sweep, and opened opportunities up for Romeo Doubs and Allen Lazard.

Golden, like Watson, has popped on tape even when he’s not getting the ball. After Jayden Reed got hurt, Love said he expected more opportunities for “M.G.” LaFleur, even handed him the ball multiple times against the Cleveland Browns as a way to manufacture touches.

Something flipped against the Dallas Cowboys for Watson. Aaron Rodgers started hucking the ball down the field to the speedster, and what followed was one of the most memorable rookie breakout games of the last 25 years of Packers football. Watson hung three scores on the ‘Boys, Rodgers engineered the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in Cowboys history, and Watson announced himself as the engine of the passing game.