Christian Watson waited until Thanksgiving to have the impact we were expecting

On the first play of Thanksgiving, the Green Bay Packers dialed up a deep pass for Christian Watson. He made an acrobatic catch for a 53-yard gain.

If you told someone that in August, it wouldn't have been a big surprise. Watson was a popular breakout pick coming into the season and fantasy football drafts reflected that. He flashed a lot of talent as a rookie last season and was supposed to be the Packers' No. 1 receiver.

That didn't really happen. Watson's slow start is shown by this weird stat: He set a season-high for catches in the first quarter against the Detroit Lions. It's Week 12.

Watson had four catches for 78 yards in the first 12 minutes of Thursday's game. He hadn't had more than three catches in a game all season. He only had one game of 37 yards or more before Thanksgiving, a 91-yard game against the Las Vegas Raiders highlighted by a long catch that was notable because the Raiders took a horse-collar tackle penalty rather than letting him score.

On Thursday, Watson showed up ready to eat.

Watson looked great on Thursday, making another remarkable third-down grab near the sideline in addition to his long post route to start the game.

The Packers took Watson's lead and had maybe the best quarter they've had all season. Love threw two touchdowns right away. The defense scooped a Jared Goff fumble and scored on it. The Packers led 20-6 before the first quarter was over.

This is what optimists thought the Packers could be this season. It was nice to see Green Bay and Watson show some highlight plays, even if it didn't happen much until Thanksgiving.