Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur went on “The Rich Eisen Show,” where he was asked about the team’s offensive struggles in cold weather and the possibility of trading for wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
The offense was the first topic of discussion.
“The general sense is the offense you’re running with (Aaron) Rodgers at the helm is not equipped to win games when it’s snowing and 10 degrees outside, and that you would be better off playing in a warmer climate,” Eisen said.
The last two postseasons have ended with the Packers playing at home. In the 2020 NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the offense scored 26 points and totaled 381 yards, 314 through the air, with temperatures just below freezing. Last year, the offense was far less successful in much colder temperatures against the San Francisco 49ers. Green Bay’s offense had their second-worst performance of the year, 10 points and 263 total yards, at a temperature of 14 degrees.
LaFleur did not dodge the question and instead talked about learning from those experiences moving forward.
“I think everybody is probably a little emotional about the last game, and it still hurts,” LaFleur said. “But I think one thing you always have to do is recognize your past and try to learn from every situation. You got to give the San Francisco 49ers a lot of credit. We knew that was going to be a tough game. They were such a great defense and a very physical football team.”
“I don’t think myself, more so than anybody, did their job to the standard that we like to do it at.”
Over the course of the entire game, the Packers threw the ball 29 times and ran it 20. Both were below average for what they had done in the regular season, but it was still a decent balanced attack. One big issue was the rushing attack accumulating just 67 yards and 3.4 yards per carry. During the regular season, Green Bay averaged 111 rushing yards per game and 4.2 yards per carry.
It was an execution issue more than anything, which is why LaFleur does not subscribe to the idea that his offense is unfit to play in cold weather.
“I do not, but everybody is entitled to their own opinion. It’s up to us to do something about it and prove people wrong, and until we do, that will be the narrative,” LaFleur said.
The conversation then moved to Samuel, who requested a trade earlier in the offseason. Eisen wondered if LaFleur called his friend Kyle Shanahan to inquire about Samuel.
“I did not call Kyle Shanahan,” LaFleur responded laughingly. “I’ve been on the other end of that call before.”
LaFleur was of course referencing the 2021 offseason when Shanahan called about Aaron Rodgers when the MVP quarterback was extremely disgruntled with his status on the team and threatened to not return.
However, pertaining to San Francisco’s unhappy receiver, LaFleur would not say general manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t call about Samuel. The Packers likely gauged the 49ers’ interest in a trade before or during the NFL draft, but it appears they still hope to reach a long-term deal with Samuel.
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Rookie minicamp provides first look at Packers 2022 draft class
WWE has announced additional matches for Friday Night SmackDown as two singles matches have been added to the card.
Xavier Woods vs. Butch and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn were announced this afternoon on WWE’s website.
When Nakamura attempted to call out Roman Reigns for his attack several weeks ago, Zayn came out instead as he was out to prove he can be an asset to The Bloodline. Zayn recently beat Nakamura with a Helluva Kick to earn a count-out victory.
Last week on SmackDown, Butch earned a win over Kofi Kingston. Woods has two wins thus far over Butch.
The show is being built around the winner take all title unification bout between Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos, a match that was originally slated to take place at WrestleMania Backlash. WWE may have spoiled the result of the match on social media.
While away from in-ring action, he has been working behind the scenes in AEW and is part of the development team for AEW’s upcoming video game. Despite rumblings that he could be close to making a return, that’s not the case.
The Young Bucks recently teased that when Omega is healthy he would return and face Vikingo. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that “there isn’t even close to a date set for Omega to return.” He added that the third AAA TripleMania event isn’t until October and if Omega is healthy then this was a match he personally asked for.
Vikingo won the vacant AAA Mega Championship after Omega vacated the title at the end of 2021.
Omega previously stated that he hoped to be back in action by February, but admitted at the time that he was a little too optimistic and that turned out to be the case.
This week on “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” Hardy discussed the relationship between Bray Wyatt and Vince McMahon, as well as Bray’s overall creativity.
Matt Hardy explaining the relationship between Bray Wyatt and Vince McMahon:
“Windham (Bray Wyatt) has always had a very strange relationship with Vince, very strange, like, I almost felt like Vince looked at him like a son in some ways,” Hardy said.
“When he would do things that he liked, he would love him and he would really give him everything that he could possibly give him. He would bend over backwards to try and accommodate him. But then when he did something he didn’t like, he hated, like he was going to lock him away for good.”
“It was almost like a really weird, a really strange and different duality that Vince shared with Bray. When he liked him or loved him, he was all about him. But when he disliked him, oh my god, it was really bad and he would like punish him and insult him. To me, it was so strange. It was almost like a parent.”
Matt talking about the creativeness of Bray Wyatt:
“He’s just an out of the box thinker. He’s also a very interesting person. Some of the material that he reads and studies is stuff that is just really out of the blue, things that you wouldn’t expect.”
“He’s a very well versed and educated person and he has a lot of interests. I feel like that makes him overly creative in many ways. His thought process of trying to do things new and differently is very unique and very special just to himself. Not a lot of people think like he does. He’s very unique and it really is a very special talent and gift that he has when it comes to being creative.”
