When the Green Bay Packers visit their stadium on Monday Night Football, the Las Vegas Raiders will be trying to avoid their fourth straight loss.
For the Raiders, it’s another prime time game and an opportunity to turn things around in front of their home fans and a national television audience.
They welcome the Packers, a competent but inexperienced squad attempting to navigate the post-Aaron Rodgers era. Jordan Love, a player with just one career star before to this season, was thrust into the starting quarterback position after Rodgers’ departure. He now fills the role formerly held by a future Hall of Famer.
Earlier Packers players were commenting on Davante Adams and how they intend to deal with him.
Packers have a plethora of Inexperience
The Packers’ offense includes several untested players besides Love. Many of their tight ends and wide receivers are also relatively young. Seven of the 12 Packers this season who have caught a pass are either first-year or second-year players.
While Love and his receivers could use this season to develop camaraderie and eventually become a unit of dynamic pass catchers, this could be a difficult situation for Coach Matt LaFleur in the short term.
Love was anointed the starting quarterback by the Packers after they traded Rodgers during the summer, giving him control of the team’s destiny.
They then used five of their 13 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft to surround him with pass catchers. The Packers’ summer plan was simple: center the team around Love.
Love has done a good job so far of developing chemistry with his new weapons. His top two alternatives have been Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed, but second-year player Christian Watson, who caught seven touchdown passes last year while recovering from an early-season injury, is also a viable possibility.
These young weapons are skilled, but they lack maturity. On Monday night, the Raiders must take advantage of this.