Tag: matt lafleur

Matt LaFleur painfully described how the Packers let the 49ers break their hearts again

Matt LaFleur sounded devastated about the latest Packers’ playoff loss.

Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. So even while the Green Bay Packers, one of the league’s youngest teams, seem to be at the start of something special, it’s no guarantee they ever reach their lofty goals. There’s just too much variance in play.

That’s what might make Green Bay’s 24-21 defeat at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers sting even more. (Beyond Jordan Love looking like Brett Favre, that is.) Sure, it’s a moral victory that the precocious Packers ever pushed the NFC’s No. 1 seed to the brink. There’s a lot to build on this offseason in Green Bay. On the flip side, even with the Packers’ youth, they’re not necessarily destined to take that next step and finish games like this whenever (or if) they get another opportunity.

Matt LaFleur understands this unfortunate reality, as he painfully described why another Packers’ postseason loss stung so much:

Pro football is a volatile game. Beyond the unfortunate specter of injuries, sometimes things — progressive development, roster construction, schedule — just don’t come together as planned. The Packers should hold their heads high, knowing they gave the 49ers the fight of their season. But to pretend as if their best opportunity to unseat NFC royalty wasn’t on Saturday would be foolish.

You never know — they truly might not get this kind of golden opportunity again.

Win or lose, the Packers’ young guns are going out in a blaze of glory

Don’t confuse the Packers’ youth for weakness. The Green Bay Packers are a confident team that is ready for any obstacle.

Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randle had one of the most quotable NFL Films sound bites of all time when he yelled, “Regulators, mount up!” quoting Emilio Estevez’s Billy the Kid.

Funny enough, though, it is the hated Green Bay Packers who are the NFL’s young guns, and their sharp-shooting quarterback has them within one more shootout of getting to the NFC Championship Game.

With an average of 25.7 years of age, the Packers have the youngest roster in the NFL, but that hasn’t fazed them in the slightest. Since Week 12, their offense is second in the league in EPA per play, trailing only the San Francisco 49ers. They are also third in success rate in that time frame, and their young leader has emerged as one of the best gunslingers in the NFL.

In the final seven weeks of the season, Jordan Love was second in the NFL in EPA per dropback, and he led the NFL in CPOE. Love also finished sixth in the NFL in DYAR and DVOA (min. 200 attempts). The Utah State product has been one of the best deep ball passers this year as well, finishing fifth in deep-ball completions and third in yards off deep balls.

Love’s emergence as one of the most complete passers in the game has been the silver bullet in the revolver for the Packers’ group of youthful playmakers. Jayden Reed caught 64 passes and eight touchdowns. Romeo Doubs matched Reed’s eight touchdown catches. Dontayvion Wicks had north of 500 yards. Both Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave became vital parts of the intermediate passing game as well, averaging over 10 yards per catch apiece. And don’t forget about Christian Watson, who missed time with injury but averaged 15 yards per reception in the nine regular-season games he played. Every one of the Packers’ top six receivers is a rookie or in his second season — that is unheard of in terms of a team that just won a playoff game. This isn’t a group that has shaky hands when it comes time to pull the trigger; this is a motley crew of young, confident desperados who just kicked in the doors of the corral, took what they wanted and knew that there was nothing their opponents could do about it.

Now the Packers are reaching the climax of their cinematic season. They face an absolute wagon of a 49ers team that will look to exploit their 27th-ranked defense in terms of DVOA. The Packers defense hasn’t been good when it comes to early-down pass defense, and the 49ers lead the NFL in empty formations on first down, doing so 6 percent of the time. Green Bay’s defense was 26th in yards allowed per drive; the 49ers’ offense led the NFL in yards per drive.

San Francisco will look to kill the Packers with a thousand cuts. Green Bay’s defense played phenomenally against Dallas in the wild-card round, but there is a large difference between playing a Mike McCarthy offense and a Kyle Shanahan offense. The 49ers painted those end zones red, they’re going to be well rested, and they will be out to make an example of Brown County Regulators.

Metaphorically, the Packers are already pinned down and surrounded, ready to make their final stand with all odds against them. That said, this team has shown all season that they aren’t afraid of the moment. They aren’t afraid of the 49ers riding in on their white steeds ready to hold down their fort. Will they come out victorious? No one seems to like their odds. But win or lose, this iteration of the Green Bay Packers, and the young guns who lead them, are going down swinging, guns up in a blaze of glory.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing the divisional round of the playoffs

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys preview all the big matchups in the NFL’s divisional round.

And then, there were eight! It’s time for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most interesting matchups that could decide who advances to the conference championships.

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens: The Week 1 game between these two teams doesn’t mean a lot, because the Ravens were dealing with C.J. Stroud in his rookie debut, and Stroud is an alien at this point. The Ravens are aware, and here’s how they can counter the Texans’ outstanding defense. Also, both of these teams have a ton of great, underrated talent on defense.

Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers: The Packers have seen desperately-needed defensive improvement over the last three weeks, but is that enough to stop Kyle Shanahan’s offense? And how will Jordan Love do against a San Francisco defense that doesn’t really have one type of staple coverage?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions: When these teams played in Week 6, Baker Mayfield had his worst game of the season. But this is a different Buccaneers team than it was then, and there are ways for Mayfield to engineer a different result. The problem for the Bucs is that Jared Goff has proven that he’s ready for whatever Todd Bowles throws at him.

Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills: The Bills have far too many injuries on defense, and Patrick Mahomes is finding winning concepts with at least one receiver, so this will have to be a Josh Allen game if the Bills are to advance.

You can watch this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os,” featuring all the most important matchups of the divisional round, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to “The Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Matt LaFleur’s comment about the Packers’ different vibes had everyone making Aaron Rodgers jokes

Aaron Rodgers was a rusty anchor on Matt LaFleur’s Packers.

For years, after winning Super Bowl 45, the Green Bay Packers struggled to reach the NFL’s mountaintop with Aaron Rodgers again. And in the Matt LaFleur era specifically, Green Bay consistently fell short in the postseason. It all culminated with a drama-filled breakup between Rodgers and the Packers last offseason.

After the Packers punched the Dallas Cowboys in the mouth in Sunday’s afternoon Wild Card Game, Matt LaFleur made it seem like all that Rodgers hoopla was firmly in the past.

In fact, based on LaFleur’s phrasing, it was almost as if he had nonsense with Rodgers in mind when praising the Packers’ “different energy” these days. Hmm.

It should be no secret that Rodgers often carries himself like a selfish egotist. And I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that his tiresome act wore on the Packers toward the end of his Green Bay career. For the organization to get a playoff win with Jordan Love in the first year without Rodgers is almost poetic.

It sure seems like the Packers and LaFleur are overjoyed about it, too.

Cowboys’ defense never stood a chance against Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love, and Aaron Jones

The Dallas Cowboys had no chance against the Green Bay Packers, and that story was told before the two teams even hit the field.

We’re sure that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will want to investigate how and why his high-priced, Mike McCarthy-led offense made the Green Bay Packers’ defense, led by embattled defensive coordinator Joe Barry, look like the ’85 Chicago Bears when it mattered in Dallas’ humiliating 48-32 wild-card loss. But the real issue causing Dallas’ early exit from the postseason was that the Cowboys’ defense, led by highly-regarded coordinator Dan Quinn, never had a puncher’s chance against Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense.

Coming into this game, the Cowboys had played the third-highest rate of man coverage (39.4%), behind only the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. And against man coverage in the regular season, Packers quarterback Jordan Love had completed 61 of 128 attempts for 788 yards, 581 air yards, a league-high 12 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 92.2. Also, the Cowboys played the second-highest rate of single-high coverage in the regular season (64.9%), behind only the Cleveland Browns (65.4%). And against single-high coverage this season, Love has completed 100 of 155 passes for 1,253 yards, 776 air yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 104.0.

So, the Cowboys tried to play a bit more zone against the Packers, to little avail, but this was a clear case of a miserable matchup in which Dallas’ opposing quarterback was ready to demolish everything the Cowboys threw at him. And at that point, it mattered little that the Cowboys came into this game with the fifth-best Defensive DVOA.

The absolute nadir of Dallas’ defensive approach in this beatdown was Love’s 38-yard touchdown with 1:27 left in the third quarter. The game was already 34-16 in Green Bay’s favor, and though the Cowboys did their best to come back against the Packers’ backups, that was pretty much it.

As we always like to say here at Touchdown Wire, don’t play man if you can’t play man.

The second part of Dallas’ defensive breakdown was what running back Aaron Jones was able to do to them, and this was even more predictable. The Cowboys under Quinn feature a ton of big nickel and dime defense, which means that the guys up front, generally in four-man fronts, had best be able to hold up. That hasn’t happened with consistency since defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Hankins was back on the field for this game, but it didn’t matter, and it didn’t matter because Jones had been among the NFL’s best running backs in the last few weeks of the regular season.

Well, Jones finished this game with 119 carries and three touchdowns on 21 carries.

Similarly to the Browns’ inability to adjust to the things about their defense that C.J. Stroud was obviously set up to tear apart, the Cowboys had no answers for the Packers, because the Packers were designed as if to specifically demolish everything Dan Quinn loves.

Browns’ refusal to adapt on defense cost them dearly against C.J. Stroud

At a certain point, you just have to tip your hat and move on to next season.

Eagles fans rejoice after Cowboys 48-32 loss to Packers in wild card round

Philadelphia Eagles fans were excited after the Dallas Cowboys embarrassing playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers on Wild Card Weekend

Eagles fans have had to endure a 1-5 finish down the stretch, and Nick Sirianni’s team is imploding despite being one of the first teams to secure a postseason berth.

Philadelphia (11-6), traveled to Tampa for a Monday night matchup against the NFC South Champion, Buccaneers (9-8) at Raymond James Stadium.

The Eagles can host a divisional round game after the Packers’ 48-32 upset win over the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

Social media reacts to everything, and the Dallas loss had Philly fans pumped and heading into a cold Monday morning.

Aaron Jones and Green Bay’s run game could decide who wins Packers-Cowboys

With Jordan Love and Dak Prescott, the Packers-Cowboys wild-card game is dead even from a QB perspective. RB Aaron Jones could make the difference.

From a quarterback perspective, Sunday’s wild-card matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys is as evenly-matched as it gets.

Let’s start with Jordan Love, who’s been among the NFL’s best quarterbacks in the second half of the season. Since Week 9, he’s completed 237 of 345 passes (68.7%) for 2,666 yards (7.7 yards per attempt), 21 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.2. These are wildly impressive numbers for a first-year starter with a highly aggressive mindset – in that time, Love has completed a league-high 23 passes of 20 or more air yards for 724 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 126.4.

Under pressure, which Love will see from the Cowboys, he’s also been outstanding, with 42 completions in 92 attempts under pressure for 742 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 100.9. At this point, there isn’t much you can do to fluster Love, and the extent to which head coach Matt LaFleur has handed the offense over to his young quarterback tells you all you need to know about his development. 

Here’s the issue for the Packers – we have a situation in which Dak Prescott is saying, “Everything you can do, I can do… perhaps better.” In that same period since Week 9, Prescott has completed 254 of 370 passes (68.6%) for 2,882 yards (7.8 yards per attempt), 26 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.7. And yes, Love does have the league lead in deep completions, but Prescott it tied with him – 23 completions in 49 attempts for 741 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 127.3. Under pressure, Prescott has completed 62 of 103 passes for 864 yards, five touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 99.3. 

So, we’re splitting hairs. The advantage would seem to be in Prescott’s direction because of something neither quarterback can control. Dallas’ defense has been outstanding all season long, though they’ve dropped a bit in Pass Defense DVOA since Week 10 – eighth in the first half of the season, and 13th in the second. However, and as all Packers fans are aware, there are issues all over Joe Barry’s defense. Green Bay ranked 22nd in Pass Defense DVOA in the first half of the season; they’ve dropped to 27th since. 

The quarterbacks are as even as you can get. That’s not the problem for the Packers. The problem for the Packers is the same problem they’ve had all season. It’ll be up to Barry and his staff to close the gap with a quickness.

Let’s now assume that Joe Barry isn’t going to close the gap with a quickness, and move on to how the Packers can gain an advantage elsewhere. And that advantage could easily be gleaned in the run game cultivated by head coach Matt LaFleur.

Over the last three weeks, running back Aaron Jones has 63 carries for a league-high 359 yards, 5.7 yards per carry, and four runs of 15 or more yards. Only James Conner of the Arizona Cardinals has more (five), and Conner got to face the Eagles’ and Seahawks’ run defenses over the last two games. The 14-yard run against the Bears last week was a great example of how the Packers get Jones going.

They motioned tight end Josiah Deguara from right to left, and tight end Tucker Kraft moved from the right side of the formation to deal the left inside edge against linebacker T.J. Edwards. Left tackle Rasheed Walker kicked up to take linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (taking him about 20 yards upfield before depositing Edmunds on his butt), and Deguara took out safety Jaquan Bricker. Meanwhile, receiver Romeo Doubs was busy keeping cornerback Tyrique Stevenson out of the play. The Packers are on point with their blocking concepts for such a young team on that side of the ball. 

This approach could work against the Cowboys, who run a ton of big nickel and dime defense with a stunt-heavy front four. Defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, who returned last week from the high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles, With Hankins on the field this season, the Cowboys have allowed 4.2 yards per attempt, and 2.2 yards after contact per attempt. Without Hankins, Dallas has allowed 4.9 yards per attempt, and 2.7 yards after contact per attempt. On-off splits don’t take all factors into account, but this one’s pretty simple, and the tape backs it up.

“He’s been toting that rock,” Hankins said this week of Jones. “He’s fast. He can run through blocks. All in all, he’s a great running back. They have a good combination of running backs, a great scheme. They’ve been doing everything they’ve needed to do to get where they’re at. It’s up to us to go out there and stop the run.”

“Hank don’t move,” Dallas edge demon Micah Parsons said this week of the big man in the middle. “He’s a crucial piece to this defense. It’s real crucial to have Hank back – especially with how good their gap schemes and pullers are – to get him back in this lineup and get ready for Sunday.”

As for LaFleur, he couldn’t be happier that he has Aaron Jones on his roster, and he probably understands just how crucial Jones could be to his advancement in the postseason.

“He’s a guy that tilts the field in your favor,” Lafleur said of Jones after the Bears game. “He’s so dynamic, so explosive. Take all his ability as a football player out of it. He means so much to this locker room by his actions, by what he says and what he does on a daily basis. He’s a real leader in this locker room. Real leader for our football team. He inspires everybody and comes to work each and every day with a great attitude. I can’t say enough great things about him. I’ve said it a million times about the kind of person he is. 

“You cannot have enough Aaron Jones[es] on your football team.”

The Packers have one Aaron Jones, and they’d better deploy him generously.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys dive deeper into the importance of Green Bay’s run game against the Cowboys.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/9R0C94wBpgpqa49UVV3S/1704953057546_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistid=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iaGZqZGFxenpncjN1ZTRkaG9ieXdjbmJ6a3ZsZm1tMnQiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNSI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”]

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Aaron Jones and Green Bay’s run game could decide who wins Packers-Cowboys

With Jordan Love and Dak Prescott, the Packers-Cowboys wild-card game is dead even from a QB perspective. RB Aaron Jones could make the difference.

From a quarterback perspective, Sunday’s wild-card matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys is as evenly-matched as it gets.

Let’s start with Jordan Love, who’s been among the NFL’s best quarterbacks in the second half of the season. Since Week 9, he’s completed 237 of 345 passes (68.7%) for 2,666 yards (7.7 yards per attempt), 21 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.2. These are wildly impressive numbers for a first-year starter with a highly aggressive mindset – in that time, Love has completed a league-high 23 passes of 20 or more air yards for 724 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 126.4.

Under pressure, which Love will see from the Cowboys, he’s also been outstanding, with 42 completions in 92 attempts under pressure for 742 yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 100.9. At this point, there isn’t much you can do to fluster Love, and the extent to which head coach Matt LaFleur has handed the offense over to his young quarterback tells you all you need to know about his development. 

Here’s the issue for the Packers – we have a situation in which Dak Prescott is saying, “Everything you can do, I can do… perhaps better.” In that same period since Week 9, Prescott has completed 254 of 370 passes (68.6%) for 2,882 yards (7.8 yards per attempt), 26 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.7. And yes, Love does have the league lead in deep completions, but Prescott it tied with him – 23 completions in 49 attempts for 741 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 127.3. Under pressure, Prescott has completed 62 of 103 passes for 864 yards, five touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 99.3. 

So, we’re splitting hairs. The advantage would seem to be in Prescott’s direction because of something neither quarterback can control. Dallas’ defense has been outstanding all season long, though they’ve dropped a bit in Pass Defense DVOA since Week 10 – eighth in the first half of the season, and 13th in the second. However, and as all Packers fans are aware, there are issues all over Joe Barry’s defense. Green Bay ranked 22nd in Pass Defense DVOA in the first half of the season; they’ve dropped to 27th since. 

The quarterbacks are as even as you can get. That’s not the problem for the Packers. The problem for the Packers is the same problem they’ve had all season. It’ll be up to Barry and his staff to close the gap with a quickness.

Let’s now assume that Joe Barry isn’t going to close the gap with a quickness, and move on to how the Packers can gain an advantage elsewhere. And that advantage could easily be gleaned in the run game cultivated by head coach Matt LaFleur.

Over the last three weeks, running back Aaron Jones has 63 carries for a league-high 359 yards, 5.7 yards per carry, and four runs of 15 or more yards. Only James Conner of the Arizona Cardinals has more (five), and Conner got to face the Eagles’ and Seahawks’ run defenses over the last two games. The 14-yard run against the Bears last week was a great example of how the Packers get Jones going.

They motioned tight end Josiah Deguara from right to left, and tight end Tucker Kraft moved from the right side of the formation to deal the left inside edge against linebacker T.J. Edwards. Left tackle Rasheed Walker kicked up to take linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (taking him about 20 yards upfield before depositing Edmunds on his butt), and Deguara took out safety Jaquan Bricker. Meanwhile, receiver Romeo Doubs was busy keeping cornerback Tyrique Stevenson out of the play. The Packers are on point with their blocking concepts for such a young team on that side of the ball. 

This approach could work against the Cowboys, who run a ton of big nickel and dime defense with a stunt-heavy front four. Defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins, who returned last week from the high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles, With Hankins on the field this season, the Cowboys have allowed 4.2 yards per attempt, and 2.2 yards after contact per attempt. Without Hankins, Dallas has allowed 4.9 yards per attempt, and 2.7 yards after contact per attempt. On-off splits don’t take all factors into account, but this one’s pretty simple, and the tape backs it up.

“He’s been toting that rock,” Hankins said this week of Jones. “He’s fast. He can run through blocks. All in all, he’s a great running back. They have a good combination of running backs, a great scheme. They’ve been doing everything they’ve needed to do to get where they’re at. It’s up to us to go out there and stop the run.”

“Hank don’t move,” Dallas edge demon Micah Parsons said this week of the big man in the middle. “He’s a crucial piece to this defense. It’s real crucial to have Hank back – especially with how good their gap schemes and pullers are – to get him back in this lineup and get ready for Sunday.”

As for LaFleur, he couldn’t be happier that he has Aaron Jones on his roster, and he probably understands just how crucial Jones could be to his advancement in the postseason.

“He’s a guy that tilts the field in your favor,” Lafleur said of Jones after the Bears game. “He’s so dynamic, so explosive. Take all his ability as a football player out of it. He means so much to this locker room by his actions, by what he says and what he does on a daily basis. He’s a real leader in this locker room. Real leader for our football team. He inspires everybody and comes to work each and every day with a great attitude. I can’t say enough great things about him. I’ve said it a million times about the kind of person he is. 

“You cannot have enough Aaron Jones[es] on your football team.”

The Packers have one Aaron Jones, and they’d better deploy him generously.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys dive deeper into the importance of Green Bay’s run game against the Cowboys.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Making the case for Packers coach Matt LaFleur to be NFL Coach of the Year in 2023

Matt LaFleur is not going to win NFL Coach of the Year in 2023. But he still has a terrific case to be argued.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur is not going to win NFL Coach of the Year in 2023. At some sportsbooks, LaFleur is not even a top 10 candidate. This might be a reflection of the volume of excellent coaching jobs done across the NFL this season, and also the fact that the Packers just barely snuck into the postseason. Not many coaches who finish with nine wins become NFL Coach of the Year — Brian Daboll at 9-7-1 last year was the first to win the award with fewer than 10 wins since 1990.

But there’s still a real case to be made for LaFleur as the NFL’s best coach in 2023.

The Packers improved by just one win this season, going from 8-9 last year to 9-8 in 2023. This fact is only unimpressive on the surface.

The Packers traded away future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, let eight veteran players who were on the field for at least 250 snaps last season walk in free agency and didn’t re-sign veteran kicker Mason Crosby. General manager Brian Gutekunst hit the reset button and handed LaFleur the youngest team in football, and the Packers not only improved but made the postseason.

LaFleur expertly navigated through a transition from Rodgers to Jordan Love at quarterback, handled the ups and downs of the early-season inconsistencies expected of a young team, oversaw drastic and meaningful development/progression on the offensive side of the ball and powered the Packers to the playoffs on the back of a quarterback and offense playing as well as any in football over the second half of the 2023 season.

Love’s rapid ascension is a direct reflection of LaFleur, both as a developer of the quarterback position and a playcaller. In almost every possible way, Love — despite a rocky early stretch — outplayed the 2022 version of Rodgers. He became the Packers’ first quarterback to lead the team to the postseason in his first year as a starter. He threw for 32 touchdown passes and over 4,000 yards, joining Patrick Mahomes and Kurt Warner as the only first-time starters to hit both numbers. Once LaFleur and Love got in a rhythm as a playcaller and quarterback, Love played on par with Rodgers’ 2021 MVP season over a brilliant 10-game stretch to end the year.

The Packers offense depended on more rookies and first-time starters than any other in football but still finished third in sacks allowed, sixth in giveaways and fifth on third down. Only the Packers and 49ers were in the top six in all three categories in 2023.

LaFleur couldn’t even lean on veterans. David Bakhtiari played one game. Aaron Jones missed or was limited in as many as nine games. Christian Watson missed eight games. Injuries affected the gameday roster each and every week. The offensive explosion was fueled by Love and a host of rookies, including Jayden Reed, Tucker Kraft and Dontayvion Wicks. The Packers got big contributions from second-year players such as Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker and Romeo Doubs. By the end of the year, the Packers had set NFL records for catches and receiving yards by rookies.

LaFleur deserves blame for the defensive struggles because he made no significant changes and willingly kept Joe Barry in charge for the full duration of a third season. His lack of action on the defensive side likely cost the Packers a chance to winning the NFC North. This is probably a much different argument had the Packers finished 12-5 and won the division.

Still, it’s hard to ignore everything the young Packers accomplished, especially down the stretch. Wins over the Lions and Chiefs in back-to-back primetime games ignited the season, and a three-game win streak to end the season was enough for the Packers to get back over .500 and into the playoffs as the No. 7 in the NFC. LaFleur’s team had zero Pro Bowlers yet still finished 6-2 over the final eight games.

Winning nine games is an incredible accomplishment especially when considering the Packers essentially lit $60 million in cap space on fire by trading Rodgers and voiding the contracts of several veterans this offseason. When Bakhtiari went out after one week, another $20 million in cap commitments wasn’t available. The Packers went through the 2023 season while missing almost a third of total salary cap, creating a massive (but also self-induced) handicap.

Voters ignored LaFleur as a candidate when he won 13 games in back-to-back-to-back seasons because of the quarterback, forgetting the fact that LaFleur was a big reason why Rodgers revived his career and regained MVP status. Now, LaFleur is getting no love despite everything he’s done to turn his current first-year starting quarterback into one of the most valuable players in football over the final 2.5 months of the season. And he turned what everyone labeled as a rebuilding year in Green Bay into an inspired playoff appearance despite no meaningful additions to the roster outside of rookie draft picks.

Did LaFleur do an “outstanding job of working with the talent as his disposal,” as outlined by the award? The answer is a triumphant yes.

No, LaFleur is not going to win the award in 2023. Many others have an equally compelling case, and Kevin Stefanski is the odds-on favorite as of Wednesday. But the 2023 season did prove one important thing to open the post-Rodgers era in Green Bay: LaFleur is one of the NFL’s very best coaches, regardless of award recognition.

Jordan Love might lead the Packers to the promised land sooner than you think

Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been as good as any QB in the second half of the season. Here’s one play that proves it.

If the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, quarterback Jordan Love will have done something that Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, his predecessors at his position, were unable to do — lead his team to the postseason in his first full year as a starter. The 1992 Packers just missed the boat at 9-7, and the 2008 Packers were 6-10. The 2023 Packers, who currently stand at 8-8, are on the precipice, and they’re on the precipice with a young group of receivers who are still figuring it out for the most part.

One thing we know — in the second half of the 2023 season, Love has been as good as any quarterback in the league. Since Week 9, Love has completed 210 of 313 passes (67.1%) for 2,350 yards (7.5 YPA), 19 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 105.5. Love has also completed 22 of 44 passes of 20 or more air yards for 665 yards, seven touchdowns, one interceptions, and a passer rating of 125.9. So, he’s not only one of the league’s best passers overall; he’s also one of the best aggressive passers, and that can take you a long way if you get into the tournament. 

Let’s get into one play in the Packers’ 33-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday night. Love completed 24 of 33 passes for 256 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 125.3, and he did that against a Vikings defense under Brian Flores who will throw the entire kitchen at you schematically — they just start with the sink, and move on from there. Love’s first touchdown pass, a 33-yarder to rookie receiver Jayden Reed, showed how well Love can deal in the face of just about anything right now.

With 5:15 left in the first quarter, the Packers went four verts on second-and-10 from the Minnesota 33-yard line. Minnesota showed a single-high safety look pre-snap,  but as the Vikings have played the NFL’s highest rates of Cover-0 (11.5%) and Cover-2 (27.5%), Love probably had a pretty good feeling that the middle of the field would be open eventually. It was, but as is often the case with Flores’ defenses, it was in ways you might not expect. The Vikings went with inverted Cover-2 to the boundary with cornerback Mekhi Blackmon dropping to two-deep, and linebacker Jordan Hicks as the middle hole defender.

Love also had to deal with pressure here, as defensive tackle Harrison Phillips pushed center Josh Myers into the pocket. Love made a little hop out of the pressure, righted his body, and made the throw with ideal accuracy and velocity.

“Yeah, they kind of disguised it, went to a cover-two-ish coverage and we had four verts on, and I knew I was going to have J-Reed right there,” Love said after the game. “Kind of didn’t see him at first where he was at, and then he came into my vision, so just let it out there, let him go get it. It was an awesome play.”

Postgame, head coach Matt LaFleur couldn’t wait to talk about his quarterback.

“I can’t say enough great things about him. Just his ability to hang in there versus some tough looks, drifting away from pressure, putting the ball in play, allowing his guys to go make plays. I think he is playing at an incredibly high level. I’m super happy for him because he’s put in a ton of work to get to this point, and I really think the sky’s the limit for him. I think he’s just showing a glimpse of what he can ultimately be, and he’s been more consistent as the season has progressed with a young group around him.”

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into how much Love has progressed as a passer this season.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.