‘We’re All Excited About London’ (Other Than LaFleur)

The Green Bay Packers are off to London to face the New York Giants. The players are excited. Coach Matt LaFleur? “I’m not going to give you my answer.”

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The bags were lined up in the middle of the locker room. The buses were lined up outside the stadium.

The Green Bay Packers were off to London on Thursday afternoon.

Some people were more excited than others. Actually, most people were more excited than one person.

“I’m not going to give you my honest answer,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday.

Was he any more excited on Thursday?

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a sarcastic tone.

Coaches are control freaks. There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s practically part of the job description. An overseas trip forces a coach to give up control. For LaFleur, that meant an abbreviated week of preparation with practices on Wednesday and Thursday before departing the stadium. For gamedays, coaches want their players rested and feeling their best. An international flight and a six-hour time difference isn’t conducive to being rested and feeling their best.

While LaFleur was annoyed about the whole thing and treated questions about planning and logistics as if he were heading to the U.S. Patent Office with the cure to jetlag, his players were positively thrilled about their overseas adventure.

“Coaches are creatures of habit, even more than players. Anytime there’s a minute adjustment to the schedule, it throws them all out of whack,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets to exaggerate his point. “Listen, we’re all excited. I think the reason I said I wanted to go over early was just to experience a little bit of that culture, to be able to get out and see some sights and interact with fans and, shoot, go to a pub and have a Guinness or whatever the local brew is. That’s what we all want to do, those of us that want to go over early.”

There will be none of that – or much of that.

“Hopefully, they can go back in the offseason,” LaFleur said. The players won’t be locked in their posh London hotel but they’ll be expected to treat this like a business trip. “I truly believe the team that handles the trip the best is going to put themselves in the best position to win the game, and discipline’s a big part of that. There’s a lot of things that I’m sure they want to do but, if they know they shouldn’t do them, are they going to do them? I trust our guys. I think they’ll make wise decisions and I expect us to play at a high level Sunday.”

Veteran receiver Randall Cobb echoed those thoughts.

“At the end of the day, it’s about winning a game. For everybody else, it’s a little bit more fun,” Cobb said. “Maybe we can go in the future and enjoy ourselves in London not having to play a game, but right now the focus primarily for us is getting a game plan in place and having fun with it and enjoying the opportunity to play in front of a different country and show what we can do.”

For the Packers, this will be their long-awaited first international game. However, LaFleur was part of games in London as offensive coordinator of the Rams and Titans. This will be the fifth trip for special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. With Washington in 2016, outside linebacker Preston Smith was part of a 27-27 tie with Cincinnati. New linebacker Eric Wilson was in London last week as part of the Saints.

“Use your time wisely,” Smith said. “We are over there to play a game but it’s a [once]-in-a-lifetime experience to actually be able to go play in another country. Our main focus is go over there and win a football game, and also it’s an experience for some guys. Some of these guys are rookies, never been out of the country and this is their first time being able to do it. Just got to be smart. Go do some sight-seeing, make sure you give yourself enough time to not miss curfew. Give yourself enough time to have fun and still focus on the game.”

While LaFleur worries about this and that, Rodgers and the players are less concerned. Yes, there’s a game to win and they’ve put in the work to get it done. But this will be an unforgettable experience that Rodgers and the overwhelming majority of his teammates are embracing.

“Coaches are so concerned with the idiosyncrasies of the schedule and stuff, so any minute change in that is going to throw them off,” Rodgers said. “But, I think overall, everybody is super-excited to get over there. Obviously, the time we’ve leaving might put a little stress on the schedule, but that’s way down at the bottom of the concerns. We’re just excited to get over there, playing at a great stadium. For us, it’s a dream. I’ve been talking about doing this for years, since they started this, couldn’t wait to get over there. So, it’s exciting to finally get a chance to go over.”

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