Bonds between the Packers’, Jets’ coaching staff lessens the likelihood of chippiness in practices,
LaFleur has close bonds on other coaching staff
GREEN BAY - If the New York Jets were arriving in town a month later, under the pressure of a regular-season week, this all would feel very different for Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
He’s been here before. The 2019 NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers and coaching mentor Kyle Shanahan. The 2020 NFC divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams and former boss Sean McVay. LaFleur is no stranger to coaching against friends and family.
This will be different, though. Because when the Jets arrive for a pair of joint practices Wednesday and Thursday, bringing perhaps LaFleur’s best friend in Jets head coach Robert Saleh – not to mention his younger brother, Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur – the pressure will be off. The week culminates with the Packers’ second preseason kickoff against the Jets, a game that will not count against their record.
LaFleur said his parents, Denny and Kristi, will be in town to see both their sons. He’ll host his sister-in-law, Lauren, and their kids inside his home.
“We’ll get some opportunities to hang out in the evening,” Matt LaFleur said. “I think we’re going to try to do something with the Jets staff one of the nights, and just enjoy some good camaraderie.”
The bigger value of Matt LaFleur’s relationships with the Jets coaching staff might come on the practice field. It will be the second time the Packers host a team for joint practices since LaFleur was hired as head coach in 2019. The Packers hosted the Houston Texans for a pair of practices in his first training camp. They were expecting to host the Cleveland Browns in training camp last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic canceled those plans.
When the Packers hosted the Texans in 2019, John Pagano was Houston’s outside linebackers coach. His brother, Chuck Pagano, was the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator. LaFleur said he kept his scheme “pretty vanilla,” lest his divisional rival get any tips from the Texans.
He’s expecting more discretion against friendly competition.
“We’re going to take a look at it,” LaFleur said. “Certainly, that’s always a concern, I think anytime you scrimmage against an opponent, is what’s going to get out there. But that’s something we’re going to talk through, and that’s something I talked through with Robert and my brother and those guys. I know those guys well.
“So certainly you go into those situations letting everybody know that, hey, this stuff does not get out into the hands of whoever we’re playing or whoever is playing us.”
It isn’t a stretch to consider the next few days his most important time in camp. Though nothing replaces preseason snaps, general manager Brian Gutekunst said joint practices provide better evaluations than intrasquad practice. Gutekunst said it’s especially beneficial to have competitive drills in a “controlled environment,” where quarterbacks wear red, no-touch jerseys and ball carriers aren’t tackled to the ground.
The Packers plan to use the coming practices as the bulk of Aaron Rodgers’ preparation for this season. Rodgers won’t take any preseason snaps, LaFleur said.
“I think it’s really good for your quarterbacks,” Gutekunst said, “because obviously you can control the situations and keep them clean and not get them hit. So I think that’s a real positive of it. You get quality reps that way.”
Because a joint session requires cooperation and compromise in organizing the practice, Gutekunst said it’s important head coaches embrace the format. In LaFleur, he has found a coach who welcomes that type of controlled but competitive environment.
LaFleur said these practices won’t be identical to the sessions against the Texans from two years ago. The Packers had live special teams drills against the Texans, which proved to be a recipe for hot tempers when Texans safety Lonnie Johnson leveled tight end Jace Sternberger with a cheap shot. Sternberger missed two weeks of practice with a concussion and jaw injury.
“So,” LaFleur said, “we’re going to eliminate that.”
LaFleur said one-on-one drills between the Packers and Jets also won’t take place, fearing the intensity will spill over into team drills.
There might be some friendly, oneon-one barbs thrown between the two familiar coaching staffs this week, however. The Packers will see Jets rookie quarterback Zach Wilson this week. LaFleur was asked about Wilson, the second overall pick out of BYU in this spring’s draft, this week. He said Wilson looked like a franchise-caliber quarterback, the type a team can build on. Then he smiled.
“He’s just got to make sure he gets the proper coaching up there,” LaFleur said, implicating his brother. “That’s the one thing I question.”