Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
PETE DOUGHERTY
LaFleur shows signs of being right fit for Rodgers
Green Bay — Anyone looking for signs on whether Matt LaFleur can handle coaching Aaron Rodgers might have gotten one near the end of the first half of the Green Bay Packers’ 21-16 victory Sunday over Minnesota.
If you saw the clip of Rodgers snapping at LaFleur as the quarterback came off the field – and you probably did, it made the rounds fast – you probably were like me and assumed Rodgers was venting at LaFleur. We saw that more than a couple times when Mike McCarthy was coach.
But it turns out LaFleur had jumped Rodgers after a three-and-out, not the other way around. In the clip, Rodgers appeared to bark back to LaFleur, “What do you want me to do?”
“I was actually kind of surprised that (LaFleur) was coming over to talk about that,” Rodgers said after the game, “but we got it all sorted out over there on the sideline. It actually wasn’t a big deal. He’s just a – as am I – we’re a little animated at times. I can’t say we were yelling how much we love each other, but we definitely weren’t MF-ing each other or anything. It was talking about the (defensive) look there and getting on the same page.”
The coach-quarterback relationship in the NFL is a challenging dynamic, and the last couple Packers seasons are proof of just how much damage it can cause a franchise when it goes awry. The challenging part is that when a team has a true franchise quarterback, that player is the highest-paid and most important person in the building.
The coach working directly with him has to win his trust and make it a collaboration. If the quarterback doesn’t buy in, you’re sunk.
Yet, the coach also ultimately has to be the boss. One of the best things that happened to Brett Favre was when the Packers hired McCarthy in 2006. Under Mike Sherman, Favre, for all his great play, had too free a rein. McCarthy, though, was tougher on Favre, and there was a moment in McCarthy’s first training camp when that was clear to anyone looking in from the outside.
Favre had thrown a league-high 29 interceptions the previous season, and in one of McCarthy’s first camp practices the quarterback chucked one over the middle and got picked. Sherman never criticized Favre in any way publicly, but when McCarthy was asked about the play he bluntly called out Favre by stating one of the cardinal rules of quarterback play: You can’t throw late over the middle.
When the Packers hired LaFleur last spring, it wasn’t hard to find someone in NFL coaching or scouting circles who at least questioned whether he’d be too deferential to the two-time MVP quarterback. In his first few months on the job, LaFleur definitely has given off a low-key vibe and appears to be someone who’s not hard to get along with. His handling of the “audible thing” suggests he’s willing to meet Rodgers more than halfway.
But the fact that he jumped his quarterback in only their second game together suggests he’s willing to confront Rodgers when he thinks he must. After all, every player in the NFL, even Tom Brady, needs coaching.
“That’s just two competitive guys,” LaFleur said of the exchange, “and I’m sure it’s not going to be the last one we have.”
When asked whether he’s OK with Rodgers barking, too, LaFleur said: “I would much rather have that than anything else, because you want guys that are extreme competitors, and that’s what he is.”
It probably helps their relationship that LaFleur will sometimes take a different approach working with Rodgers in a game. Most offensive head coaches don’t abandon their sideline perch to meet with quarterbacks on the bench – that’s the quarterbacks coach’s domain – because they’re watching their defense or taking time to themselves to go over play calls for the next series.
But one of LaFleur’s mentors, Rams coach Sean McVay, often sits next to his quarterback to talk strategy between series. So did LaFleur on Sunday, on at least one series. Early in the second half, after Rodgers lost a fumble on a bad shotgun snap, LaFleur plunked himself down alongside the quarterback on the bench to go over things.
“It’s definitely helpful, when he’s bouncing stuff off – ‘Do you like this? Do you like that? Do you want to start with this? You want to get to this?’” Rodgers said. “It doesn’t have to be – obviously I did that with Mike a bunch, I’d kind of go to over where he was at. But Matt likes to get cozy on the bench.”
Let’s face it, LaFLeur-Rodgers is going to be the most scrutinized relationship in Wisconsin for at least the next couple years. For good reason. Quarterback play is everything in this league.
Just look at the teams the Packers have defeated in LaFleur’s first two games. Mitch Trubisky was a disaster last week in Chicago, and Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins showed he’s the definition of average Sunday at Lambeau Field. Among other things, both tossed mindboggling fourth-quarter interceptions in the end zone that cost their teams the game.
So getting things right with Rodgers is LaFleur’s job No. 1. Their offensive collaboration is struggling early, but maybe what mattered most Sunday is what happened on the sideline, not on the field.