Packers Arrive in London, Ready for Giants
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Shortly after landing following a long flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur conducted a walk-through practice on Friday to prepare for Sunday’s game in London against the New York Giants.
Planning for tired legs and short attention spans, most of the prep was done back in Green Bay. This practice was meant to get the legs activated after being packed in an airplane for several hours.
“Typical Friday would have a couple red-zone periods where we’re going full-speed and then we like to take off back half of practice and it’s more of a jog-through tempo, whereas today it’s all going to be jog-through,” LaFleur said. “We’re not out there quite as long as we typically are. I think it’s just important to be real intentional about our work, be out there, make it short, try to keep the guys focused and then let them do whatever they want to do in terms of going to see London.”
One person who won’t be seeing the sights is LaFleur, who has been less than enthusiastic about the trip and the challenges it’s made for preparation. Saying he was “totally focused” on the game, he figured to stay in The Grove hotel to make sure the game plan is “squared away” for kickoff, which is set for 2:30 p.m. local time and 8:30 a.m. in Green Bay.
“Matt’s been in kind of a grumpy mood,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said with a smile during his time with media.
Perhaps the biggest challenge will be adjusting to a six-time-zone change. Some players were able to sleep more than others on the flight. Receiver Randall Cobb called himself “sleep-deprived.” Running back AJ Dillon “tried” to sleep.
“We’re fighting the good fight right now,” he said.’
No napping, though. LaFleur wants the players to stay up “past a certain” top-secret time, then get a full night’s sleep going into the weekend.
“I’m going to explore,” receiver Allen Lazard said. “I’m going to stay up as much as I can, as they suggested, so I’m going to take full advantage of that, being over here. One of the many perks of playing in the NFL is you get to travel to cities all across the world. Today, obviously, we’re in London, so I’m going to take full advantage of that, and try to stay up as long as I can to try to make sure I get plentiful sleep tonight.”
Rodgers, who would have preferred coming to London a few days earlier to take in more of the sights, cuisine and culture, said he’ll be attending the U.S. women’s national team’s friendly against England at historic Wembley Stadium on Friday night.
“I’m excited to be here,” he said. “This has been something that we wanted to do for a long time. We have great fans and we travel well, so it’s hard for teams to want to give up a home game when Green Bay’s coming to town. And, obviously, we play in one of those iconic spots in all of sports at Lambeau Field. It’s nice to be here. The schedule, look, it’s not a big deal. It’s just fun to enjoy. This is one of those games I think at the end of your career when you think back on it is going to be a special moment to be able to play in front of the fans here.”
Other than left tackle David Bakhtiari, who was given a scheduled day off, and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (quad), everybody practiced. Safety Adrian Amos made the trip and practiced again but remains in the concussion protocol and is questionable on the injury report. Cornerback Jaire Alexander practiced all week and was full participation for a second consecutive day.
“We’ll see how Jaire gets through practice,” LaFleur said.
He must have gotten through it just fine as he was not given an injury designation.
“Once we step between those lines,” Cobb said, “it’s about playing football, it’s about finding a way to get a ‘W.’ We prepared the right way, we always go about handling our business the right way. At the end of the day, the Giants are dealing with some of the same things we are. I don’t know when they got over here but we’ve got to adjust to the time and we’ve got to go play ball.”
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