#515 Packers Unscripted: Wrap-up remarks

as well. My initial two takeaways from this are one that it's really really hard to get over an ending like the Packers had, because even a few days later, you could still hear some of the regret and bitterness and disappointment and everything in Matt Lafleur's voice. So we'll talk about that a little bit. But also, he's extremely upbeat about the future. I think he used the word excited at least five or six times throughout the course

of the half hour press conference. He likes what he's built so far, but he's a coach that knows the

process is nowhere near complete. This is still an ongoing evolution, and the reason why it's so difficult one obviously just the result, but two, it's because of as he pointed out, how special that locker room was, how close that locker room was, one of the closest that he's ever coached at any level of football, and that, as Aaron Rodgers talked about after the game, that's what made you feel like this could be a real special season, because you

don't always get that. You'll have teams that win Super Bowls that aren't as tight as that locker room was, and you'll have teams I think, as Mercedes Lewis pointed out on Monday too, he played on plenty of teams that weren't quote unquote winning playoff teams, but had a good chemistry. It can be a lick, sir, I feel to to help a team get to that next level, and when it all ends, it is it's just it's such a sudden train stop. You can't prepare for you

because you don't think about it. You think about the game, in winning, in what that would mean, and just continuing upon that run. So there is a lot to break down and digest this week, But as you mentioned in the second point of your point, they also feel a genuine excitement and enthusiasm about what is to come based

on this first season. They were ahead of schedule in so many ways, whether it was just the implementation of this offense, whether it was being able to incorporate the new free agent pieces, or even having a guy like Elton Jenkins make a you know, year one contribution. All of those things kind of add up to being a pretty special, you know year that you don't always get with the first year head coach. But unfortunately the Green Bay Packers fourteen wins will have to do and they

set their sights now. Yeah, I think one of the things that I liked best about his remarks that he came he came off very very aware of the fact that there are going to be things that are going to come up in that you can't prepare for. That you're not going to expect that there are going to be new challenges, new difficulties. Everything that the Packers worked through this year, he knows they were blessed with a fair amount of good fortune from a health standpoint, not

a lot of major injuries to deal with. Um, it's not easy to win so many close games in the NFL. As we talked about a lot those those usually tend to follow more fifty fifty throughout the course of a season. Packers are on the winning end of the vast majority of close games, So that's going to be something that's

that's difficult to repeat. He's already what I sensed is he's already mentally preparing himself for whatever it is that comes down the road that the Packers didn't have to deal with in twenty nineteen, but it's going to hit them at some point, and I and I think he's he's already mentally aware that that those things are going to come eventually. Yeah, and and being able to have that experience to to lean back on now. I think

it's just so critical. It didn't even really dawn on me, Mike until he brought it up himself, that this will be the first time he goes into year two with the same offense with the same team since two thousand, fifteen sixteen with with Atlanta, you know. And that's a part of being a climber. It's a part of getting

more opportunities. He went to being an offensive coordinator to have an offensive play caller, to finally a head coach here with the Green Bay Packers, and and everything that comes with it understanding Okay, you need to implement your offense. You need to be the offensive you know, guru in mind that is going to get this team ready for Sunday. And it's funny, you said finally though, because it happened so quickly. Nineteen boom, there he is as a head coach.

But yeah, but you know, at thirty four years old, this is something that he was thinking about when he was a quarterback at say Anna Valley Stage. You know, someday being able to run his own scheme and run his own team, and being the son of a football coach and a mom that was a coach. I mean, it's just it that is always in you, I believe, and this was his first chance to really be able to understand, Okay, it's not just a position. It's not

just the side of the ball. It's being in special teams meetings, it's being in defensive meetings, setting the agenda for everybody in that building, from the training staff, the strengthen conditioning department, and also having conversations with Brian good Kunstan, having conversations with Mark Murphy. This is everything that plays into being a head coach at the highest level. And those experiences like you can't just go into an interview being like, Okay, I know exactly what to expect and

this is how I'm going to approach everything. A lot of it is Okay, when you get those curveballs thrown at you, how do you adjust your swing to it? And I feel like that's what Matt Lafleur. Probably the biggest adjustment now that he gets to make now going into year two is knowing where he needs to devote his time, how to a cayta his resources and is He even pointed out leaning on his staff because he's

not always going to have all the answers. It's an exciting thing for him to be a coach that won thirteen games, got to a playoff one, a division title, was in an NFC Championship game. But now it's about that next step and everything that he has to do to ensure that they do take that step forward in Yeah, well, he had some interesting thoughts both regarding the offense and the defense. I want to get to those in a minute.

But Select Cousin Subs locations are now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, they're delivering right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs, we believe in better. Okay, Well, he spent the majority of at least in terms of the evaluation part of it, talking about the offense because that's his

area of expertise. It was his offense that the Packers were implementing and transitioning to this year, and I thought it was interesting and that he he came right out and said the whole up tempo thing, which a lot of fans were wondering, like where is it. Why aren't the Packers going to a huddle and playing faster and all that? He said, Hey, that's that's something we didn't get to this year. But it sounds like it's a

pretty high priority for that he wants to have. Now it's not going to be, you know, the track meet sixty minutes a game or whatever, but he wants to have a segment of the offense that's there for them to be able to go up tempo, to play faster when it's not just a two minute situation, but as a change of pace at other times in the game. It sounds like that's something he really wants to work on.

With Aaron Rodgers here heading into twenties. Yeah, because I wouldn't go and say that, you know, Kyle Shanahan, what they were doing was really quote unquote up tempo in most cases. But it was just how they broke the huddle, how they got to line a scrimmage, Guys being in the right spots, being disciplined, not having to have any miscommunication, um, just honing all that in. Kyle Shanahan's in his third year now as a head coach that he's been able to,

you know, really work those things out. But for Green Bay, as the floor talked about it, it's not always just one or the other. You don't want to just always be up tempo because then you know you're you're you might you know, speed yourself out of things. You also don't want to be down to two and three seconds on a play clock because then that's when the defense starts to get dependant's ears back. There's all these things that you have to account for in the course of

a sixty minute game. And you know, he admitted that's something that this offseason, when the coaches break things down and when the players get back into the building in the spring, being able to you know, maybe take that next step hasten that process that that is what his vision is for where these things go. Aaron Rodgers is exceptional, he said it. I mean the way that he was open minded about the way that he approached this new offense and in his role in it what was being

asked to him. But for everybody, it's it's a growing process. It's the understanding that this was year one and now you go into year two. What can you do to make sure that the offense is, you know, adaptable to every situation in being able to be multifaceted where you

really needed to. Yeah, and with with how tough things ended out in San Francisco in the NFC Championship game, Matt Lafleur had some really pointed words actually in terms of questioning just the intensity, the urgency, the effort of the players. Just felt like he wasn't seeing the same team out there in San Francisco that he saw during the regular season. But interestingly, he also said he also looked at that excuse me as something to be self reflective.

That He's like, I need to look at myself and find out why my team looked like that. In an NFC Championship game. Um, so again, I think you know, we're we're we're starting to get a feel after this first season now, and we were seeing it earlier as well when they hit some bumps in the road with the game out in Los Angeles and the first trip to San Francisco. Matt Lafleur is a really self reflective

head coach. His first it seems that his first step he he evaluates things, but then his first step in trying to figure out what needs to change, it's always looking at himself first, and then he'll start to branch out and figure out other things. And I just I think that's a quality that uh, you know, maybe it's something he's born with, maybe being son of a coach, whatever whatever it is that has created that in him.

But not every not every coach has that. Not every coach always looks at himself first, or at least publicly is going to say like, hey, I'm going to look at myself first. And I think that's something that that Packers fans can As tough as that ending was, I think Packers fans can have a lot of confidence in, uh, in this head coach in terms of getting to the bottom of why this happened and trying to make sure

it doesn't happen again. I'll be honest with you, I don't know if Mark Murphy and Bryan god Kuntz and Rust Ball everybody, when they sat down and talked with him through the head coaching process of trying to make that higher, if they if they were able to really

get at the core of the apple there. But I would argue with you now that we're more than a year into this thing, that Matt Lafleur's best quality I think as a coach, and what makes him a guy that think is going to be successful for many, many years in this profession is the fact that he he leads by example. He asked of himself before before he asked from others. I actually think that's that's not really an issue just with the NFL. That's an issue in society.

There's a lot of weak minded people out there, uh, spineless, Uh, you know, they just don't have that backbone of you know, billing, willing to accept responsibility. They just want to blame other people. And it happens a lot in industry. Boss's supervisors always wanted to talk down to those beneath them rather understanding who's who's the people that are making these decisions and how are people responding to the way of which you're leading.

That that's critical, And I've said it before on the show and I've written it an inbox. It doesn't matter how good of an X and o's guy you are, or even what you're in a person, communication skills are like, if you don't have that foundation, it just isn't gonna work because everyone's nobody's gonna respect you. And Matt Lafleur was very self aware coming into this season that that's where this has to start, because the fact of the matter is, Mike, a lot of things went wrong in

two thousand and eight fifteen. For the Packers to have the overhaul that they had this past year, they had to get better. They had to get better with their coaches, they had to get better with the players, they had to get better with the scheme, they had to get

better with the administration. Everybody needed to improve and the fact of the matter is they won fourteen games, they made a playoff Berth and you listen to guys like Mercedes Lewis, Brian Bulagau, Trumon Williams, Mason Crosby, leaders in that locker room that have seen so many different versions of this Packers team, all appreciative of the tech that he took with this roster. That's something that you hang your hat on now as you move forward as a

head coach. Yeah, and when you talk about the potential obstacles that say the Packers didn't have to deal with in twenty nineteen, that may come up in you know, the most significant injuries the Packers had, I would say, we're you know, Lane Taylor going down with the iceeps injury, but Elton Jenkins was ready as a rookie second on draft picked to step in and take over and that was as as seamless as you could as you could

ask for. And then Davante Adams missing four games with the turf toe injury, and then you know, working his way back even when he was back on the field, he wasn't totally himself yet for a handful of games there. Um, But you know there almost inevitably after a year like this one, they're going to be some more injuries that Packers are going to have to deal with. And and that's where the roster construction and how much experience do you have in the backups that are going to step in.

These are all of the conversations that Matt Lafleur and Brian gudakun stand the personnel staff are going to have in the off season. Another one I'll look at is, you know this two thousand nineteen Packers Matt Lafleur as

a head coach. They haven't had a losing streak. You know. Now, that's that says something about again the self reflection and the leadership and all these other things that we've been talking about, because every time the Packers lost a game, they got it turned back around and and you know, righted the ship very quickly. But this is the NFL. You're probably going to lose a couple of games in a row. Here. That's another thing that maybe in is something that you know you won't be able to turn

it around quite so fast. And if you lose a couple of games in a row, then how does the locker room react? Then what kind of leadership is needed to to get things going? These are the kinds of things that that are potentially coming down the pike. But as I as I said before, it seems that Matt Lafleur is not going to be surprised by anything. He's he's aware that he didn't face everything in year one and uh and I think just that awareness is going

to serve him well. Heading into YouTube, there's a lot to unpack there. Um, what I'll start with is it's a chicken or the egg, right in terms of the two game not having a losing absolutely, it is interesting how the locker room responded to every single one of those situations and how they played the following week. Right. What happens when the adversity hits the second time, that's something every team has to figure out. Will be interesting to see if that should happen next year, how the

Packers will handle that. But the other the two other things I want to talk about very briefly here. One, Packers certainly just got to figure out what the heck happened in California this year, because it's just that that

that's where it went awry. That was the the three long the three longest road trips, the three longest plane fights are are are where for whatever reason, things just didn't go Yeah, So that that's just that's something I think that they're going to be able to put a finger on when they reassess here over the next six seven weeks, and I'm guessing it'll be something and may even be asked when we get back to the combine.

The other thing is very small, and I'm sure it's not gonna be something the floor is gonna want to go into, because I know Mike McCarthy certainly didn't. But I wonder if the Packers have really this is speculation on my standpoint. I wonder if the Packers really have gotten their finger on the pulse of the GPS system and understanding workload management. Uh, you know, knowing when to push guys and when not to push guys because you're right,

turf toe injuries are gonna happen. Um, you know, we we saw more injuries seasonating injuries happened in practice than we did in the the football field this year. Uh. The thing that with happened with Raven Green and the ankle, you can't really prepare for that. But the soft tissue injuries that would be sidelining players for weeks. Uh sometimes with Casey Hayward some of these guys, it would wipe them out a whole season. Those didn't haunt the Packers this year, and a lot of that is rest and

recovery and preparation. But what I want to say to along those lines, because fans are always asking, they've been asking for years, like what is the deal with the injuries? And you know this and that and why why do the Packers always get struck with all these injuries? It seems like the list is longer for Green Bay than other teams. I'll say this too. Players have to take

care of their own bodies. There has to be there has to be some commitment from within from themselves to do what it takes because they can only be given so many plans and so many objectives and and this and that, and you know, I don't know. I just wonder a new head coach coming in, a new coaching staff coming in, you get a greater commitment from the players to do things on their own when they have this whole new group of people to impress in order to get the playing time in order to get in

their careers where they want to go. I'm just saying I think that's a part of this too. You know, he's a great example that as Jire Alexander too. Because I was talking with Jyre about that this year because of Truman Williams. Truman Williams is the gold standard for preserving your body. I mean, whether or not you're a pro athlete. I think just is a thirty six, thirty seven year old human being. You just got to respect

the way that that he approaches a thing question. And Jyre mentioned to me this year when one of our conversations, I mean how much he said, like, okay, his rookie year. Yeah,

we got treumon there. That's cool. It's funny. He's like, I'm not really sure how much I really took from him in terms of him independently going out trying to use him as a resource, but seeing him this year in his preparation, I mean, Jire started doing yoga this year, things that he wasn't doing at least regularly in the hask and starts all sixteen games, plays at a high level all season long. It's those type of investments that players have to make. And it's not when you're thirty six,

it's when you're twenty two or twenty three too. Uh, understanding that you get you tear your hamstring, you have a soft tissue injury that doesn't just heal like where it's like, Okay, you never have to deal with it again. That muscle is less now because you tore it the first time. It's only going to recover to a certain extent. The more you preserve yourself, the better it's gonna be you for the long run. Injuries happen, though, they will happen.

I mean, there's certain things that Nick Perry dealt with in Green Bay. He just was snake bitten by it. He just he there's nothing he could have prepared for to break his thumb or like, you know, to broken

I mean, you know, that's that's the stuff. I mean when you're talking about when you're talking about things like broken bones, concussions, those types of injuries, those fall in a completely different category than you know, the pulled hamstring, the groin muscle, the calf muscle, I mean, all all of those kinds of things. Those are completely different categories. And and yeah, the Packers were a healthy team in twenty nineteen, and for the most part they took advantage

of it. Unfortunately, you know, they wanted to win at least one more game. Yeah, So getting back to my original point and all this much like We're going to see how the Packers respond to adversity next year with this locker room scene, if they can keep this up, and seeing if they can keep that trend because the outside looking in and nobody ever wants to talk about because one you don't want to give away any secrets

and two you don't want to jinx yourself. But there the Packers were exceedingly healthy this year and it helped in terms of how this team was built and how they were able to build throughout the course of the season. Yeah, well, we will not most likely here from Matt Lafleur until the NFL scouting combine, um, so may not have too much to to unpack between now and then, but we

shall see. And we are going to hear from general manager Brian Gouda Kunst on Friday this week, So on Friday show we will try to analyze and dissect what he has to say. Yeah, it's gonna be great. I'm I think it's just gonna be really fun because you know, Brian has been accessible, but he doesn't have like weekly and daily press conferences like Matt does. So just seeing what his impressions were of this roster and where they

got to and what he learned from this season. One thing is just I've loved since the day he walked into the door, at least in terms of the new GM role. Is that he he stated that was January seven, two thousand and eighteen or whatever it was, he stated they were going to leave no stone on turn with free agency. They're going to be in every conversation they did. That that's would enabled them to get not one but

two Smiths last year. Uh. You look at them being able to claim Jared Valdere and Tyler Irvin and finding some of the answers they did during the season, which is the most difficult time to be able to put a band aid on things. It was a fantastic year for Brian Goodkins in a great opportunity now for him going into year two with expediting this whole process to continue to try to fill some holes there to get

that team back to a Super Bowl. Yeah. I'll look forward to that conversation on Friday, but for now, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to continue following all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com. You can subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services, and there's all kinds of great video content out there on the Packers YouTube channel for WES, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.