Packers’ Jordan Love Reacts to Christian Watson’s Surprising Return From Broken Rib Injury

A hard hit late in the second quarter left Lambeau Field silent. On Thursday, against Carolina Panthers , Green Bay Packers ' Christian Watson caught a 53-yard pass and took a heavy hit from two defenders. He could not breathe and coughed up blood on the sideline.

Watson eventually had to be taken to the hospital but what happened next his teammate the Jordan Love.

Jorden Love shocked at Christian Watson's resurrection

Late in the second quarter, Christian Watson caught a 53-yard pass to reach 100 receiving yards. Two defenders hit him hard, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to cough up blood on the sideline. An ambulance took him to a hospital for a CT scan, which showed a broken rib but no internal bleeding.

Watson returned to Lambeau Field before the end of the third quarter to loud cheers. He caught two more passes, finishing with a career-high eight catches for 113 yards in the Packers' 27-19 win over the Panthers. He later joked that his entrance felt like a WWE return where people greeted him like he had been resurrected.

Quarterback Jordan Love said he was shocked when Watson came back. "Man, that was crazy. It was a lot of people cheering… I didn't know what was happening. Then I see Christian running out, and he's just resurrected. It was great to see him," Love said .

Watson joked post-game about the dramatic return. "I was getting dap-ups like I was getting resurrected or something," Watson told reporters after the game .

Watson finished as the game's top receiver, setting a career high with 8 receptions for 113 yards on 10 targets. His tough fourth-quarter performance helped the Packers seal a 27-19 victory over Carolina.

Like Jordy Nelson, Watson is now Jordan Love's top deep target. He became the first Packers receiver since Nelson in 2014 to catch multiple 40-plus-yard touchdown passes in a single game.

Standing 6-foot-4 with sub-4.4 speed, Watson mirrors Nelson's lethal combination of height, speed, and boundary control, forcing opposing secondaries to play deep coverage.

Paired alongside Matthew Golden, Watson's production has created Green Bay's most potent dual-receiver setup since the 2014 Jordy Nelson–Randall Cobb pairing.