On a very quiet flight home in the middle of the night, Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur was a focused movie critic. Hours after the 24-22 walk off loss to the New York Giants Monday night, LaFleur subjected himself to watching the game film all over again from an aisle seat on the charter jet. LaFleur said it had to viewed with a critical eye to pass along the corrections required of his now 6-7 team, handling that in an expedited fashion with another game with playoff implications looming in just five days.
What struck me most about the Pack’s three game winning streak prior to the Meadowlands trip was how accelerated the progress was, especially on offense. From a unit that had trouble just moving the ball early in the season, to a humming offense scoring early and often against two division leading teams, the rapid rise in execution was remarkable.
That’s why the regression against the Giants was equally as remarkable. When I asked LaFleur about it at his Tuesday afternoon press conference in Lambeau, I wanted to know what he thought was the most surprising aspects of the team’s three steps forward, one big step backward in it’s level of play. I got the 2023 season long answer out of him, covering all three phases of the team in over four and a half minutes.
On the medical front, LaFleur had no update yet on Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed. Both were hurt Monday night, Wicks with an ankle injury and Reed was evaluated for a concussion. He hoped to have more information when the team returns from it’s day off on Wednesday. With Christian Watson still unable to play with his most recent hamstring pull, the team could find itself down three receivers heading into the final month. LaFleur said that’s not ideal but it creates opportunities for players like Malik Heath who caught the what the team hoped was the game winning touchdown. Samori Toure was active for the first time in weeks and made a couple of plays and nearly came down with a deep shot touchdown that got tipped away at the last moment.
LaFleur said his confidence is not wavering with Anders Carlson who missed a 45 yard field goal at Met Life in the second half but came back to connect from 48 later in the 4th quarter.
LaFleur also said the most improved player on the team over the course of the season might be rookie tight end Tucker Kraft who has become a factor in the passing game, showing toughness after the catch and tenacity in the run game and on special teams.
It’s going to be an above the neck week as LaFleur likes to call it as the team now ramps up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, like the Pack, 6-7 but they lead the NFC South race with four games to play. He’s going to give the players a few extra hours of rest Wednesday morning before bringing them in later in the day to present the blueprint for a much more enjoyable game film he wants to watch in the comfort of his own home, after a victory, rather than sulking through a disappointing movie at 30,000 feet.
