It’s all relative
Coaching LaFleur brothers on opposite sides in NFC final
SANTA CLARA, Calif.
— Matt LaFleur, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, doesn’t know if he’ll be in Miami for Super Bowl LIV.
Ditto for his brother, Mike LaFleur, passing-game co-ordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.
But because their teams square off against one another Sunday in the NFC championship game at least their parents — Kristi and Denny LaFleur — can book travel plans for Feb. 1-2 weekend.
“They’re going to the Super Bowl, one way or the other,” Matt told a news conference in Green Bay on Wednesday.
The LaFleurs’ family reunion this weekend takes place at Levi’s Stadium, in suburban San Jose, way down the bay from San Francisco.
One can imagine the pride Kristi and Denny must feel, but also the conflict. One of their sons is going to be ecstatic Sunday night, the other devastated.
“It’s mixed emotions. It is what it is,” Matt said.
Matt is the much older brother. He’s 40. Mike is 32. They grew up in remote Mount Pleasant, Mich., home of Central Michigan University, 250 km northwest of Detroit.
“Anybody that knows how much my family means to me — my brother, my parents and my wife and kids. It is an emotional deal,” Matt said.
“But it’s not about us. This is about the Green Bay Packers vs. the San Francisco 49ers — two great football teams, with the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. So it doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
The two brothers actually coached together as assistants, along with current 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, in 201516 on the Atlanta Falcons. Shanahan was offensive co-ordinator; Matt was quarterbacks coach; Mike was a general offensive assistant. In fact Matt worked as an offensive assistant under offensive-coordinator Shanahan at two stops before Atlanta — in Houston (2008-09) and Washington (2010-13).
In a strange coincidence, the last time the Niners played in the Super Bowl, after the 2012 season, their head coach at the time, Jim Harbaugh, faced off head-to-head against his brother, head coach John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won.
Shanahan himself comes from football royalty. His dad, Mike Shanahan, was a longtime NFL assistant and head coach who led the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships in the late 1990s.
When Kyle was offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans in 2008, he squared off against his dad’s Broncos. So he knows what the LaFleurs are going through this week.
“It’s always a bit different,” Shanahan said, “just because of how close you are with the other person. I know Matt and Mike are as close as any brothers could be, just like most people are with siblings. But it really doesn’t matter. There’s a lot of talk to it and stuff, but I mean, there’s no feeling when that game goes on.
“There’s no feelings when you’re studying and preparing. Everyone cares about the other person. I know if we weren’t in it, I know he’d be pulling for his brother, just like when I wasn’t going against my dad I was always pulling for him. But, I know when you go against each other, that stuff doesn’t matter. Everyone’s got a job to do and everyone is pretty competitive and wants to win, also.”
How close are Mike and Matt? Well Matt, being the older brother, had to play older brother when asked at Wednesday’s news conference about all the great coaches these Niners have, including Mike.
“First of all,” Matt said, “who said he was a great coach? That’s what I want to know. I never said that.”
Zing. Good one.
On a more serious note, Matt indicated he won’t be bringing his two sons and daughters this time to the Bay Area, as he did in November when the Packers played the Niners in Santa Clara.
“I think there’s a little bit different vibe (this time),” the first-year Packers head coach said. “So I’ll just leave it at that. I haven’t really talked to
(Mike) much at all, and it’ll probably be that way for the remainder of the week.”
As politely as possible, Matt said he understands the interest in this family affair, but tried to deflect the spotlight to a more relevant spot.
“I mean, they’re more than just one guy over there. There’s a lot of great coaches over there — Kyle Shanahan, (rungame coordinator) Mike McDaniel, (running backs coach) Bobby Turner. I’ve worked with all those guys. (Tight ends coach) Jon Embree, I could go on and on and on.
“I have a lot of respect for their ability to dissect a tape and come up with a good game plan. I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve lived it with those guys. So I know they’re going to have stuff ready for us. It’s on us to go out there and make sure that we’re disciplined in our approach, defensively, and that we trust what we see, we trust our preparation. And then ultimately it’s going to come down to execution.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter spoke with the elder LaFleurs for a podcast this week.
“Somebody is going to lose,” mom Kristi said. “But they still need to celebrate what has been accomplished.”
Well, maybe so. But next week. Not this week.
KANSAS CITY — Patrick Mahomes is exactly the type of young man almost every father would want his daughter to marry.
Not only because he will soon become the highest paid player in NFL history, and not just for the Super Bowl tickets he can purchase at face value if the Kansas City Chiefs get to Miami with a win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
But also because Mahomes is such a sweetheart.
Earlier this week, the Chiefs 24-year old quarterback was included on the list of top 10 most well-mannered people in 2019 published by the National League of Junior Cotillions, an organization that “strives to build self confidence, discipline, character and etiquette in our youth.”
Mahomes was chosen “for being an esteemed leader and exemplifying outstanding sportsmanship on the field.”
Such personality traits were on his scouting report when the Chiefs made Mahomes the 10th overall pick of the 2017 NFL draft.
“You heard he was a great kid, and all about football,” head coach Andy Reid said Wednesday at Arrowhead Stadium. “So we look at that … I‘m not going to tell you we don’t look at that. You never know until you get him on your team. But he’s been what people told us he was, yeah.”
And so much more.
These days, Kansas City is full of kids running around with the same, umm, interesting haircut Mahomes wears. They want to be just like him. And why not?
Among the things to like about Mahomes is the fact that, in two seasons as their starter, the Chiefs have a 26-8 record, including playoffs.
Along with winning the MVP as a rookie and guiding the team to two straight conference championships, he has already reached statical milestones that have him in, or above, elite company.
Such as, being is the fastest player in NFL history to more than 9,000 passing yards and more than 75 touchdown passes, doing so in just 30 games.
But, after signing a fully guaranteed, four-year $16.42 million contact that included a signing bonus of $10.08 in July of 2017, he is also seriously underpaid.
Mahomes is eligible for an extension once season ends and, according to multiple reports, the team is determined to lock him up.
Now, it’s a given Mahomes will become the highest paid player in the league, the new king of a mountain that, according to the Sporting News, is currently topped by Russell Wilson (Average Annual Salary, $35 million),
Ben Roethlisberger (AAS 34 million) and Jared Goff (AAS 33.5).
There’s talk Mahomes could get almost a quarter of a billion dollars on a six-year deal, while a story by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler last week quoted an NFL executive saying settling for a salary of $40 million “would be Mahomes selling himself short.”
So now we’ll see how nice a guy he really is.
The Chiefs will already by walking a tightrope with the NFL team salary cap that, at $188.2 million, is expected to again be on the rise. They also have a number of players who are on expiring deals, such as standout defensive lineman Chris Jones and DBs Kendall Fuller, Bashaud Breeland and Morris Claiborne.
This Kansas City team is a very good one, and should be for years to come — unless it is crippled by a Mahomes megabucks deal.
As such a team guy, Mahomes wouldn’t want that to happen, right? But would his agents, Leigh Steinberg and Chris Cabott, allow him to settle for anything less than full market value?
Either way, Chiefs GM Brett Veach will need to be the MVP of the off-season.
Reid was asked Wednesday how he would describe Mahomes’ arm to someone who had never seen him play.
“He’s got an active arm,” said Reid, “but he’s got a good touch with it. He knows when to heat it up a little bit, then he knows when to put it down, cut down the veloc
ity. He’s got a great feel, he can throw from all different arm levels, angles.”
When the Chiefs lost 35-32 to the Titans in Week 10 — Mahomes first game back from a knee injury — he jumped in the air to throw a pass over linemen to Mecole Hardman, who turned it into a 63-yard score. It was one of his 36 completions for 446 yards and three touchdowns.
As he was still a little uncertain with the knee, Mahomes didn’t run the ball at all that day. Against the Texans last week, he added seven carries for 53 very important yards to another prolific passing display.
“He moved around a little bit on us, he drifted,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said this week. “It’s hard enough to defend him when he throws it to one of those receivers, or one of those tight ends, or backs. But then it’s just an added element when he’s able to take those free yards, because everybody is back in coverage, and the rush wasn’t disciplined.
“It’s deflating. You know, because you look at him as a passer, an accurate passer, a creative passer, and then all of a sudden now he’s running for 20 yards. Now you’re running out of answers.”
Although he says he’s had no trouble sleeping this week, Mahomes admitted he’s excited about what lies ahead.
“You’re ready to play in this game, and this is what you want to do, play a home game, an AFC championship game, and get a chance to win in front of the fans,” he said Wednesday, before adding that, for him, it’s about sticking to the process of “day-by-day and getting the best out of every single day. Hopefully at the end of the year I can look back and be in the spot I want to be at.”
He was also asked where he got his good manners.
“I think it goes back to where I come from,” said Mahomes. “Being an east Texas small town, everybody was pretty nice to you and you kind of have to respect your elders, and do all that different type of stuff. I’m just who I am. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’ve always felt like if I’m nice to people and treat them like I want them to treat me, then usually good things happen.”
Really good things are about to happen for Mahomes, whether he wins the Super Bowl next month or not.