Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft dropped two passes during an ugly 35-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night at Lambeau Field.
He kind of dropped the ball again after the game — metaphorically this time.
The injury-ridden Packers did not look particularly good during their first two games of the season, needing an overtime win over the New York Jets last week to bring a 1-1 record into their home opener on “Thursday Night Football.”
Getting their first live look at the team this season, Green Bay fans did not like what they were seeing. So they let their feelings known. The boos started late in the first half, with the Packers trailing 17-7, and got louder and more frequent as the game — and the team’s woes — continued.
(At least one Packers fan, however, didn’t even appear to have the strength to boo.)
Speaking to reporters after the game, Kraft expressed his frustration — with the home fans.
“That’s pretty tough. Like, everyone pictures Lambeau Field — and not boos. I don’t picture boos. I picture my home stadium,” Kraft said. “That’s tough. It’s pretty disappointing.”
One reporter interjected, “Especially for a home opener.”
“Especially for a home opener,” Kraft agreed. “It’s pretty disappointing. It’s not going to help us win. Like I don’t know what people think, that’s going to rally us or something like that.
“But we’re grown men. We’re mentally strong enough, capable enough to get back on the field and play ball. But it’d probably be much easier with the 70,000 people behind us rather than opposing us.”
Naturally, folks on social media aren’t thrilled with Kraft’s take on this matter.
“Try catching a pass once in a while, then the boos may stop,” one person wrote on Kraft’s Instagram page. “Also, grow up.”
Another commenter said: “The response you were looking for was ‘we HAVE TO PLAY BETTER’ … We love the team and the players and always support…if you can hear when you win…you can hear it when yall look god awful.”
Others are simply booing him in the comment sections of his posts.
Kraft finished the game with four catches for 26 yards on eight targets. He has 122 receptions for 1,657 yards and 15 touchdowns during his four-year career, but only nine of those catches, 106 of the yards and none of the touchdowns have come in the first three games of this season.
Injuries to star players like defensive lineman Micah Parsons and running back Josh Jacobs certainly have played a role in the Packers’ struggles early this season, but it’s tough to blame fans for expressing their frustrations.
Speaking to reporters after the game, coach Matt LaFleur called it “a humbling night.”
Rookie cornerback Brandon Cisse told reporters he understands the emotions behind the boos.
“We love the fans, and any time we’re not putting a [good] product on the field, it’s very disappointing to them as well,” Cisse said. “So I understand their frustrations … These fans, they pay a lot of money to come watch us play, so we need to make sure we play better in the future.”
Wide receiver Christian Watson told reporters “it’s tough” to hear the home fans react in such a manner, but he gets it.
“At the end of the day, it’s an entertainment business, so we have to put a better product out on the field if we want to have the fans have our back,” said Watson, who had seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. “I mean, obviously, we’d like to think that the fans will be there through the ups and downs, but we’ve got to put out a better performance than that.”
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