I know you think I’m crazy. I know there are guys with bigger jobs and guys that get paid more money, but I’m firmly of the belief that in 2023, the Green Bay Packers MVP was none other than Romeo Doubs. Hear me out…
The Packers were a 9 win team this year and, as we know, needed every single one of those wins to make the playoffs. Without Romeo Doubs, they would have lost several of these contests. Below I will highlight 4 of the biggest moments of the season and show how Romeo was instrumental in each one.
Week 1 @ Chicago
The anticipation for this game was through the roof. The first with Jordan Love as The Guy. Could he get the job done? Was trading Aaron Rodgers a mistake? This was the game we’d wanted for months. Romeo gets the first TD of the Love Era. You can’t underestimate the psychological weight this play lifted for the team. “There. We did it. Now lets go do it again.” The blowout was on…
Doubs would go on to catch 2 TDs in this game mere days after losing Christian Watson to a hamstring injury. It was huge for the young Packers QB making his second career start to have a guy he could count on, Romeo was there every time.
Week 13 vs. KC
This game was the biggest win of the regular season as the Packers were hitting their stride. They’d played well enough to have a slim 2 point lead in the 3rd quarter, but Pat Mahomes, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, was on the other sideline and everyone knew Green Bay had to keep scoring to have a chance. On a big 4th and 1 in the middle of the field, Doubs comes up with the biggest play of the game and showed up huge for his quarterback for a massive 33 yards.
The Packers would score a touchdown to Watson on this drive two plays later and hold on for the narrow victory. None of which happen without Romeo’s critical catch.
Week 11 vs Chargers
Coming out of the doldrums of October, the Packers were starting to hit their stride. They had come up a hair short the week before in Pittsburgh and were desperate to show they had learned how to close out a good team. They found themselves trailing late in the 4th quarter and, worse, reduced to just one healthy running back, so any comeback was going to come through the air. Any wonder who Jordan found for the game winner?
Week 3 vs New Orleans
But my favorite play is the game winner vs. the Saints. You know the story well by now: Packers home opener. Jordan Love’s first Lambeau start and it’s going… terribly. Down 17-0 in the fourth quarter, the Packers needed plays, and fast, if they were going to have any hope of a comeback. The final quarter went well enough to give them a chance but they still trailed 11-17. A touchdown was needed. They didn’t yet know it, but the playoffs were on the line. Who do they count on in that situation? Their MVP. The Packers were so confident Doubs could win his matchup that they threw fades to to him on consecutive plays at this critical moment with the game on the line. He didn’t win the first one, but they knew he was going to deliver for them and they came right back to it. Doubs rewarded the Packers faith and hauled in the game winner.
Romeo Doubs: Team Leader
We have mainly focused on Romeo the player, but I think he plays an important leadership role on the team as well. Its harder to quantify, but if you look closely you can see it. The Packers have an amazing, young wide receiver corps. One of the hallmarks of this group is their pure, unselfish play. Despite all being talented, they don’t complain if they don’t get the ball in any particular game, they just want to help the team win. This is a massive cultural advantage for the Packers and I believe that Romeo sets that tone. Look again at the play against the Saints above. Winning the game was amazing, but the most memorable thing about this play for me is what he does after catching the touchdown: He throws the love-hands above his head and….gives the glory away?? Who does that?? I’ve been watching football for over 30 years. I’ve seen wide receivers make all sorts of amazing plays in the endzone to win games, and I can’t recall one ever turning around to find someone else to honor. It was in this moment I realized that I needed to know more about who Romeo Doubs is as a man. It is evident that his life philosophy is considerably different than most people in the NFL and I believe the Packers are reaping huge benefits from his quiet leadership. I must credit Tyler Dunne‘s excellent profiles from January (part 1, part 2) in helping reveal Romeo’s incredible story. After you understand where he is from and a little of what he had to survive to be where he is, then you understand who Romeo the football player is. Tyler really helps us understand why he works so hard. Through those stories you understand why he is all business on the field. And once you understand that, you then realize why the Packers look to him so much in the scoring zone.
According to FantasyPros, if you eliminate the receivers with small sample sizes of 4 targets or less, Romeo is number 3 in goal-to-go receiving percentage in the NFL. He caught 66% of the balls he was thrown (6 of 9), scoring on each reception. By contrast, although Davante Adams and Rashee Rice had a better reception percentage inside the 10 yard line, Romeo scored more touchdowns. Adams only scored 4 of the 9, Rice was 5 for 8. This elite production in the most critical area of the field is the product of hard work and determination he’s been crafting his whole life.
The growth of Jordan Love as a quarterback was the most significant change during the season that enabled the Packers to go from a bottom-5 outfit to coming within a few plays of the NFC Championship game. Aaron Jones and Christian Watson are field-shifters. When they’re on the grass, the team kicks into a new gear. But Love wasn’t a star early in the year. Jones and Watson missed a combined 14 games of a 17 game season. Romeo Doubs was there every week. As the old adage goes “the best ability is AVAIL-ability”. The Packers know Romeo is clutch in the scoring zone, and when you have a young team and an inexperienced quarterback, knowing who your go-to guys are in the clutch is the difference between winning and losing. Romeo sets the tone in the wide receiver room and his play got the packers 2-3 wins they wouldn’t have gotten without him. In the two playoff matchups, Romeo lead the team in yards and targets in both games, turning in a career best 151 yard performance in Dallas. It seems when the games mattered most, the Packers knew who to feed the ball to. That is why there can be no doubt; Romeo Doubs is the Green Bay Packers MVP.
