Packers players reflect on this season and look ahead to next season

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin — A little over 11 hours ago, Christian Watson held a reception on the lawn of Lambeau Field.

Late Monday morning, he was packing up and cleaning up his team’s work before wrapping up his rookie season.

“Everything happened exactly the way it needed to give us a chance to fight for what we wanted to fight for, but we just couldn’t get it done,” said the wide receiver.

The Packers dropped a last-ditch attempt to advance to the NFL playoffs with a loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday night.

It was the final chapter of the rocky season.

“We’ve embraced our ups and downs,” said Watson. “We gave everything we had to get to where we were yesterday. We embraced the downfall and learned from it. Like I said, we didn’t make it yesterday.”

(Spectrum News 1/Nathan Phelps)

Running back AJ Dillon said his late-season momentum didn’t get him one more game.

“It’s stiff. You keep that run going and everything’s going well and everything’s looking exactly the way you want it to, but that’s life sometimes,” he said. It doesn’t always work out, and I think there’s a lot to be learned from it, and you’ll learn a lot of life lessons from it, and if anything, use it as motivation for next year.”

People—reporters—were already asking him what the next year would be like and if Aaron Rodgers would be part of the team.

(AP photo)

“In the three years I’ve been here, every offseason there’s been an outside noise of what’s going to happen and what’s not going to happen,” Dillon said. “I won’t get caught up in that. I just want to thank everyone on the team right now. Watson has learned a lot from the veterans this season and will spend the next few months improving the overall game. He said he plans to improve

“From a mental point of view, I’m already preparing to have the season I want to do next year and the career I want to have,” he said. “We have a lot to learn from this season.”