Wednesday LaFleur: Avoiding a Meltdown

The weather is going to be sweltering for the Green Bay Packers’ final open practice of training camp. Not that coach Matt LaFleur minds.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The most famous game in Green Bay Packers history is the Ice Bowl. However, the final practice open to fans during their 2023 training camp is going to feel a lot more like South Florida or New Orleans than the Frozen Tundra.

Coach Matt LaFleur changed the start time of Wednesday’s practice from noon to 11 a.m. That will help by a few degrees on the front and back ends of practice. Still, it will be about 90 at the start. With “mega-muggy air,” the heat index could approach 110, according to WBAY-TV meteorologist Steve Beylon.

“Reducing strenuous activity” is always one of those “Thank you, Capt. Obvious” hints for days like this one. That doesn’t exactly fit with a football training camp, though.

“You deal with it. It’s part of the circumstances,” LaFleur said before practice. “You talk about competitive greatness, being your best when your best is required, regardless of the circumstance. That’s the situation, so we’ve got to get our mind right.”

Getting their mind right meant a focus on hydration and nutrition on Tuesday so the players would be at their best on Wednesday.

LaFleur said the team would practice for 2 hours – about typical.

“It’s kind of sick of me but I don’t mind it,” LaFleur said. “Going through something tough is good for you.”

This was the last of 13 practices open to public viewing. When the Packers return to a cooler practice field on Thursday, access to the bleachers will be locked and viewing from the fences will be blocked.

Here are a few more quotes from LaFleur’s daily pre-practice news conference.

Lambeau Field on a sweltering Wednesday morning. (Photo by Bill Huber/Packer Central)

On the impact of Rashan Gary’s debut in 11-on-11:

“It was great to see him out there. You can feel the explosiveness and his speed and his power. It was nice to see him out there.”

On the potential impact of the outside linebacker group, which consists of Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, Kingsley Enagbare, Justin Hollins and first-round pick Lukas Van Ness:

“I think we’ve got a lot of potential but we’ve got to utilize that potential and put it to good use. The best way to do that is go out there and continue to work and get better. I like the approach of the group. I think Rebs [position coach Jason Rebrovich] does a great job with those guys, first and foremost, and the competition has really elevated the play of some of those younger players.”

On the first-team offense’s performance on Tuesday:

“I didn’t think it was good enough. Really, whether you’re playing football or whatever sport you’re playing, when you have a couple days off, you’ve got to be ready to go. That’s part of being a professional. I didn’t think that we had the focus that was needed to have a winning performance, quite frankly. There was way too many, whether it was busted plays or pre-snap penalties, things that you’re in total control of, that we didn’t go out there and execute. When you do that, it’s hard to put a winning performance out there.”

On Jordan Love’s footwork:

“That’s something that we’ve worked extremely hard at, and I think that’s a prerequisite for playing winning football in this league at that position. So, that is absolutely paramount. The fundamentals that it takes to play that position – and Tom (Clements) is a master of them and just does a great job of drilling over and over and over – but those guys have to do it once they’re away from here, too. I know he goes out to California and spends a lot of hours working on all the little details, because every concept might have a little bit different drop. That’s why these reps are so imperative … just trying to marry up your footwork with whatever the concept is.”

More Green Bay Packers News

In 1994, the #Packers used a sixth-round draft pick on linebacker Ruffin Hamilton. On Tuesday, his son, cornerback Elijah Hamilton, signed with the Packers.

“He was there every step of the way,” Elijah Hamilton said after his training camp debut.https://t.co/v5gqJK0zbS

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 23, 2023

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