Having faced off against two rookie quarterbacks and a second-year starter during the 2019 season, the Green Bay Packers have been able to get a front-row seat to the next wave of signal-callers taking over the NFL. While they have won the majority of these games against these younger QBs, it has not necessarily been all sunshine and rainbows.

Week 10 was the first matchup that falls under this category for the Packers, as they welcomed the Carolina Panthers to the snow-covered realm of Lambeau Field. With second-year quarterback Kyle Allen leading the Panthers, they have experienced a lot of highs and lows this year.

With incumbent starter Cam Newton having been on the shelf for all but two games of the 2019 season, Allen has taken over for the former Auburn product and has actually shown to be a competent NFL backup quarterback.

Coming into Dec. 8’s slate of games, Allen has put up 15 passing touchdowns (Tied-20th) and 10 interceptions (T-23rd), along with 2,457 passing yards (21st). All of these numbers are quite middle of the road or to the bottom, especially with his 30th-ranked QB rating of 38.3. 

Having held the Panthers on the one-inch line to win the game in Week 10, the Packers were much too close to losing a game that was a tug of war each drive. Allen was forced to throw the ball 43 times in a blizzard for 307 yards, not getting a lot of progress on his drives.

In Week 13, the Packers traveled to the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants and Duke rookie QB Daniel Jones in yet another snow-filled contest, winning 31-13 in pretty convincing fashion. For Jones, this was one of his more disappointing games in his young career, having thrown three costly interceptions. 

With DC Mike Pettine having thrown many different looks towards Jones to diagnose, they held both Jones and running back Saquon Barkley in check for the majority of the game.

Finally, the team hosted the Washington Redskins in week 14, which marks the final rookie QB to make an appearance against the Packers in 2019. With the Ohio State product being given starts for the remainder of the season to try and improve his ascension to the NFL, Haskins has been struggling for a really-bad Redskins franchise under an interim head coach.

While the ‘Skins have been mostly a dumpster fire for the entire season, they have a ton of impressive rookies that have a ton of promise surrounding them. While incumbent head coach Bill Callahan not even being close to the leader that this team needs, Haskins has a ton of uphill battles going against him this season so far, and with Washington being very willing to ‘tank’ without saying it, he has been handed a very crappy hand of cards for 2019.

While the Packers do not get to face rookie signal-callers on a regular basis, it has helped provide this defense with a few get-right opportunities, something that all defensive units need. With Pettine working through some issues in pass coverage and his linebacker corp, facing Allen, Jones, and Haskins has helped give them results that can help them in preparation for the rest of the season and hopefully into the postseason.

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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

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