LaFleur Explains Failures on Offense, Defense Against Giants

After a stunning loss to the New York Giants on Sunday, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur faced the music on Monday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Social media has not been a warm and fuzzy place toward Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur following their stunning collapse to the New York Giants in London.

Not that LaFleur would know. He was studying film, not his Twitter mentions.

“I had a buddy text me last night, obviously long flight home,” LaFleur said on Monday. “He said something about, ‘Hey, don’t worry about what anybody’s saying.’ I was like, ‘Well, I’m not worried about it because I haven’t looked.”

Good thing. Aggravated Packers fans, exhausted after watching a decade-plus of big-game failures, and the Twitter know-it-alls, have been out in full force following a 27-22 loss to the Giants.

Not that their angst is misplaced. Quite the opposite. The Packers led 17-3 in the second quarter and 20-10 at halftime before being dominated by a team that had seven starters on its inactives list, including its top receivers and best defensive lineman. It was an inexcusable performance. It was inexcusable to not give the ball more to Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. It was inexcusable to give up 27 points in five series.

During the opening question about the state of the team’s underperforming defense, LaFleur interjected.

“We should have played better as an entire team. It wasn’t just one phase,” he said. “It was offensively, it was defensively. There were moments that looked really good to start the game. Two three-and-outs. I thought our guys were playing well early. Third series they got a field goal and, after that, it kind of unraveled.”

LaFleur, who was a bit prickly in his media sessions leading up to the trip to England, delivered a series of calm and reasoned answers to questions about the team’s list of problems. Agree or disagree with the logic behind his decisions, it was interesting insight into his thinking at the moment. Here are seven of his answers.

Defense

Are bold changes needed on defense to fix a unit that routinely plays soft and has been beaten repeatedly by crossing routes?

“There’s a lot we need to clean up. No. 1 is, I just think the urgency to get lined up and get ready to play. Just going back and watching the tape, there were moments when we got other crossing routes that we were all over, that we were glovey. And then there’s times when we’re just a little bit off and guys are moving around and not in the best position pre-snap, and we have a hard time taking those crossing routes and we get beat.

“There’s another time we’re in quarters coverage and, if we don't have our eyes in the right place, the safety’s got to cut the crosser and the corner falls off in case they try and throw a shot down the field. So, we’re just a little late with that and if you’re a little late with that, you’re going to get beat and you’re going to give up big, explosive plays, and we all know that explosive plays lead to points. So, I would say the overall consistency at which we play has got to be much improved. We have to have better focus down in and down out and making sure you truly have to take it one play at a time. When we do that, we look pretty good. When we don’t, we look like we did yesterday and we get beat.”

Does the defense need to play with more of a killer attitude?

“There’s and minuses with that. When you do that and, especially, they were in a lot of reduced splits, and you’re also mindful of stopping the run. So, when those wideouts are in tighter alignments and you’re playing single-high or even if you’re in quarters or whatever, and they go to crack a safety, well now that corner’s in a much worse spot to crack-replace to be there for the running back. So, everything’s a little bit of a balance and you’re trying to predict what a team is going to do to you.

“We thought that they were going to come out and lean heavily on the run. Outside of the one wildcat play, I thought we did a pretty darned good job at nullifying the run as best you can against a premier back like Saquon Barkley. So, yes and no. I think situationally could you do that? Absolutely. But if you live in that world, it’s going to open up another set of problems potentially. So, you’ve got to counteract that and try to best guess what a team, how they’re going to attack you on each play.”

Does defensive coordinator Joe Barry need to do more to get a talented defense playing to expectations?

“I think absolutely. I think we all have to do more. I have to demand more. I think we’ve got to coach things better. I think we’ve got to have better urgency. Quite frankly, we need every guy doing their job on every single play. Because there was a lot of just one-offs here and there and that’s what led to that second half where you give up long drives.”

Offense

Why three consecutive passes during the three-and-out in the fourth quarter?

“Yeah, anytime it doesn’t work out, you always want to second-guess, then all right, what should we have done? In hindsight, here’s the deal, first-and-10, you get single-high, you call a play to attack the single-high. Was there an illegal contact on that play? I don’t know. Allen (Lazard) did get bumped into but, it is what it is, so it’s second-and-10. Second down, we called a run-pass option, or a can play, where if they wanted to load the box up and dare us to throw the football, which they did quite a bit, then we’re going to take that opportunity.

“We felt like we had a premier play and, unfortunately, it didn’t work out, and now you’re sitting in third-and-10. And I understand that, going into it, you’re going to have to stand up here today and answer for that, and I’m perfectly fine with that, as long as our process and our thought process is in the right spot. Unfortunately, from a results standpoint, it didn’t work out.

“That was the same play that we hit Romeo Doubs on earlier in the game for 20-whatever yard. This time, we had Cobby on the through route. It was one-on-one. So that’s a play that we ran on third-and-1 in overtime versus New England and we got a key completion. So, it’s OK when it works out and it’s not OK when it doesn’t. That’s just the nature of our game.”

Does LaFleur need to show more trust in the running game considering it was moving the ball against the Giants’ stacked boxes?

“We did [have production]. We did. There was a lot of them in there. Just going into the game, controlling the line of scrimmage was going to be pivotal. I thought we did have some vs. loaded boxes where we got some really good push up front and we were getting like 5 yards a carry. So, yeah, after looking back at it, it’s definitely a fine line. We had a lot of runs called where we were throwing those run solutions. And the thing is, it’s kind of a double-edged sword because the run solutions were being pretty effective.

“It’s just that it does limit you in regard to now you’re not getting two of your best players the ball, as well, in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we’re getting those guys the necessary touches and not putting him in all those situations. One thing that they did do and why we had so many run solutions was [Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is] pretty unpredictable in terms of when they’re going to blitz. You’ve got to be picky about it. Certainly, when the outcome isn’t what you want and Aaron Jones has 13 carries and AJ had six, yeah, it’s hard to sit up here and justify that to everybody, to our team. We’ve got to be – I’m talking to myself – more disciplined in our approach in terms of making sure that they get the necessary touches throughout the course of the game.”

On the fourth-and-1, it looked like AJ Dillon would have walked in for the touchdown. What did you see?

“It was Cover-0 so I do not fault that decision at all. That is 100 percent. You can’t bank on that because you’ve got a short edge. Who’s to say the safety’s not going to run it down from behind if he hands that ball off?

“It was one of those where we knew they were probably going to be in Cover-0 and we had Cobby and Doubs on routes on the left side and Allen on the right side. It’s unfortunate that it worked out the way it did. Obviously, you never want to end the ballgame with back-to-back tipped passes. The last two plays of the game were all-out pressure. Typically, I’d say, the majority of times, that’s going to be tough to run into. Not to say that it can’t work, it certainly can, but I think given the circumstances, I don’t have any issue with the decision.”

Special Teams

The Packers replaced Amari Rodgers on kickoff returns with Christian Watson. Against the Giants, Rodgers fumbled a punt return for the second time this season.

“I told him during the game, I said, ‘You have got to do a better job of taking care of the football. That’s part of your responsibility.’ He does a great job fielding the punts, no doubt about it. But, I think it’s just the ball carriage. And once you put that on tape, guess what’s coming your way? Those guys are going to be clawing at the football. And you know the Jets do a great job of that, as well. You can see it all over their tape, their ability to punch. We call it punch-hammer-rake at the ball. And so, we know it’s coming, now we’ve got to make sure we do a good job of protecting that football.”

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