Christian Watson broke a rib on his 53-yard catch Thursday night, the Green Bay Packers receiver said after a 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers.
Rob Demovsky of ESPN reported that Watson was also coughing up blood after the play.
Jordan Love found him deep in the second quarter. Watson came down with the ball at the Carolina 26 and was slow to get up.
Watson reached the sideline and then the locker room under his own power before an ambulance took him to a local hospital. Green Bay announced a chest injury and called the hospital visit precautionary.
Watson ran out of the Lambeau Field tunnel and back to the Packers’ sideline with 6:56 left in the third quarter, Demovsky reported. Ryan Fitzgerald’s 50-yard field goal then cut Green Bay’s lead to 27-13, and Watson was on the field for the next series. Love threw deep to him right away. The pass fell incomplete.
Watson said everything else checked out fine at the hospital and he got the OK to play.
“I used to watch WWE as a kid,” Watson said.
“I felt like I was watching WWE SmackDown versus Raw or something out there. Seeing the cameras on me when I cut off the ambulance, that was a little crazy. But it was a surreal experience, no doubt, just to go through that and have the fans cheering for me being back out there was definitely exciting.”
Before the hospital trip, Watson had six catches for 100 yards. He added two after returning and finished with eight receptions for 113 yards.
In Denver on Dec. 14, 2025, a Patrick Surtain II interception left Watson on the turf at Empower Field at Mile High and sent him to a hospital. Watson said that week doctors had checked him for dislocated ribs, and he played the following Saturday against the Chicago Bears.
Less than six months later, on June 4, the Packers signed him to a four-year extension through 2030 that included a $31 million signing bonus.
The Packers, 5-3 after Thursday, visit the New England Patriots next. Kickoff at Gillette Stadium is 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday, Nov. 8.
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