The Packers put up 45 points in Sunday’s road win over the Patriots and that marked the most points scored by a visiting team in the history of Gillette Stadium.
Wide receivers Matthew Golden and Christian Watson were the main drivers of Green Bay’s offensive success. They combined to catch 17 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns in the 45-27 win and they did a lot of their damage against Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
According to NextGen Stats, Golden had seven catches for 105 yards while being covered by Gonzalez and Watson had three grabs for 82 yards with Gonzalez in coverage. After the game, head coach Mike Vrabel made it clear that Gonzalez’s play has to improve.
“Again, when your best players don’t play good, you don’t have much of a chance in this league,” Vrabel said, via a transcript from the team. “So, we expect a lot more. He expects a lot more. We need more from him and everybody else. It wasn’t just him. Again, we got to be able to coach and be prepared, and then we have to execute. Just like it is every single week when we don’t win, it’s all of us, and it starts with me.”
The Patriots gave Gonzalez a big extension before the start of the season and matchups like this one are where they need Gonzalez to play his best. That wasn’t the case on Sunday and the Patriots will need things to change before they hit the field to face the Lions in Munich next weekend.