The 2023 Green Bay Packers season is over. The team finished with a 9-8 record and in second place in the NFC North. They qualified for playoffs and advanced to the second round after crushing Dallas. Here is a look at the Packers 2023 postseason awards. Feel free to comment on any of these and state your opinions about who you feel deserves any of these awards.
Packers 2023 Season Awards, Offensive MVP: QB Jordan Love
After a shaky start, quarterback Jordan Love finished the season strong. Love had to prove he could be the team’s next franchise quarterback in his first year as the starter. By the end of the season, he left little doubt that he was the next starter for the foreseeable future.
Love completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 4,159 yards and 32 touchdowns while tossing 11 interceptions. His quarterback rating for the season was 96.1.
By the end of the season, Love was in command of the offense and made much better decisions.
While Aaron Jones was the catalyst that took the offense to another level when he was healthy, he missed a lot of time due to injuries and was limited in many other games. Love deserves the award as offensive MVP.
Defensive MVP: DL Kenny Clark
Rashan Gary came close, but defensive lineman Kenny Clark was the Packers most consistent and outstanding performer over the season. The former UCLA star finished the season with 7.5 sacks and made 44 total tackles including nine tackles for loss. He also made 16 quarterback hits.
Clark created pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the interior line. He also provided leadership and was the team’s best defensive lineman for yet another season.
In a season where injuries decimated the defense, Clark played all 17 games and played well.
Packers 2023 Season Awards, Special Teams MVP: RS Keisean Nixon
Keisean Nixon earned All Pro honors as a return specialist for the second consecutive season. He led the league in kick return average with 26.1 and in yards for kick returns with 782. While Nixon didn’t score a touchdown this season, he did break off a 51-yard return in the regular season and made a 73-yard runback in the playoff loss to San Francisco.
Nixon is fearless and almost always wants to return a kick, even if it’s deep in the end zone. As the season progressed, he became a little more discriminating about when to return kicks.
Nixon remains a danger to score any time he touches the ball. He will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Most Improved Player: QB Jordan Love
While the Packers had many young players improve in the second half of the 2023 campaign, no player improved more in-season than Love. After struggling in the first half of the campaign, he came on strong in the final eight games of the year.
The former Utah State star threw nine interceptions in a six-game stretch early in the season but then threw 19 touchdowns and just one interception in the final eight games.
Love had a quarterback rating of 100 or higher in seven of the last eight games of the season and had a nearly perfect quarterback rating in the playoff win in Dallas. In that game, Love completed 76.2 percent of his passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of 157.2.
Love went from a big question mark to the future centerpiece of the team by the end of the season.
Packers 2023 Season Awards, Rookie of the Year: WR Jayden Reed
Second round pick Jayden Reed became the team’s starting slot receiver before the season even started. The Michigan State alum led the Packers in catches (64), receiving yards (793) and tied for the team lead with eight touchdown catches.
Reed did a great job of adapting to the NFL and quickly became a reliable and dangerous target for Love. The first pattern he excelled at was a down and up pattern that took him to the sideline, but he quickly developed more pass patterns to his repertoire.
Reed broke the Packers franchise record for catches in a season which was previously set by Sterling Sharpe in 1988.
Unsung Hero: OL Zach Tom
Zach Tom rarely gets a lot of attention and that’s because all he does is quietly go out and do his job. He does that job very well. Tom took over as the team’s starting right tackle and started all 17 games at the position. The former Wake Forest star played 97 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and only came out in garbage time.
Tom graded out as the team’s best offensive lineman in both pass protection and run blocking. He was consistent and effective. Tom allowed just two sacks in 700 pass blocking opportunities this season. When you don’t hear about an offensive lineman much, they’re usually doing a good job. That is definitely the case with Tom.
Packers 2023 Season Awards, Biggest Disappointment: WR Christian Watson
Everybody expected great things from wide receiver Christian Watson after his strong finish to his rookie season. Unfortunately, injuries limited Watson to nine games this season and he was on a snap count for many of the games he did play.
Watson finished the season with 28 catches for 422 yards and five touchdown catches. Unfortunately, two different hamstring injuries disrupted his season.
The Packers are sending Watson to a specialist to try to solve the problem. If he can stay healthy, Watson is still capable of being a difference maker on the field.
Best Game: Wild Card Playoffs: Packers 48, Cowboys 32
The Packers dominated this game, going into Dallas and crushing the Cowboys 48-32. Many of the Cowboys points and yards came after the Packers held a 48-16 lead.
The Packers scored touchdowns on six of their first seven drives. Love threw for three touchdowns; Jones ran for three and the Pack led 27-0 in the second quarter.
This game showed how far the Packers have come since midseason and set them up as Super Bowl contenders in 2024.
Packers 2023 Season Awards, Worst Game: Week 14: Giants 24, Packers 22
The Packers were fresh off big wins over the Lions and Chiefs when they headed into the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants. The Packers played poorly, especially the defense as Joe Barry and his players were unable to stop Tommy DeVito, an unproven rookie quarterback.
The Packers took a 22-21 lead with less than two minutes left, but the defense couldn’t stop the Giants from marching down the field and easily kicking the winning field goal.
This was the beginning of the end for Barry and the most disappointing loss of the season for the Packers after expectations were just beginning to rise.
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