We're barely a month into former Texas Longhorns wideout Matthew Golden's sophomore season in the NFL, and he is already proving to be a critical weapon for the Green Bay Packers' offense.
In Week 3, the Packers were featured on Thursday Night Football and faced the Atlanta Falcons, who are led by fellow former Longhorn Bijan Robinson, who had an incredible game for himself.
The Falcons won by 21 points, making the Packers' defense look ill-equipped and making their offensive drives a moot point. That was, at least, other than the performance Golden put on to lead Green Bay's offense.
Yes, Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw the rock, but Golden earned a career-high 100 receiving yards, including scoring one of the Packers' two touchdowns on the night. The former Longhorn had the most receiving yards on the team, ahead of veteran receiver Christian
Watson, who scored Green Bay's other touchdown.
Golden's abilities to allude tackles and avoid pass breakups were on full display as he helped the Packers at least get on the scoreboard with his second-career touchdown.
Green Bay's terrible rushing offense could lead to breakout season for Matthew Golden
In the loss, the Packers' running back room combined for a whopping 17 yards. Yes, you read that correctly: seventeen yards. Love only tacked on one additional yard to that total.
And this wasn't the first time that Green Bay's rushing game looked... dreadful. In the first two games, in which the Packers went 1-1, the team combined for only 129 total rushing yards. That's an average of less than 70 yards per game on the ground.
For further context, Robinson earned nearly 200 rushing yards against the Packers last night.
If you're a Packers fan, those are pretty miserable stat lines to have to read, but if you're a fan of the Horns, that gives Golden a massive opening to emerge as one of Green Bay's offensive leaders this season.
Yes, his game against Atlanta was a great one, but if the Packers' running game continues to struggle, the team will have to continue to lean on Love and the passing game. Already, Golden has proven himself as a reliable target for Green Bay's air-raid-heavy offense.
In fact, in the first two games, Golden was also a top-two wideout for the Packers, earning the most receiving yards in the second game against the New York Jets and the second-most in Game 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.
This is something that should come as no surprise to Texas fans, who got to see Golden's brilliance on display for one season before he headed to the 2025 NFL Draft.
Golden transferred to Texas in 2024 after playing two years for the Houston Cougars, and his greatness was unlocked while he was on the 40 Acres. He earned 987 receiving yards for nine touchdowns in his one season with the Horns, also earning 285 kick return yards and even completing a 30-yard pass.
Simply put, Golden has always been a dynamic playmaker and it looks like the Packers are just beginning to unlock how good a player he can be at the next level.
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