This Time, Rodgers Likes Joint Practices (At Least a Little)
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2019, the Green Bay Packers conducted joint practices for the first time in 14 years.
Rodgers wasn’t a fan.
“I wouldn't mind if they didn't do it for another 14 years,” Rodgers famously said of those workouts with the Houston Texans.
On Wednesday, following the first of two days of practices against the New York Jets, Rodgers talked about going delivering a “scorched earth” rebuke of the joint sessions. Instead, he sounded OK – perhaps even (relatively?) happy – with what had transpired on the practice field.
“Look, I’ve never been a huge fan of joint practices, but I think I’ve said, as well, there’s merit to certain aspects of it,” Rodgers said.
While the latter part of that statement is true, Rodgers’ overall change of tune comes from a couple places. One, the Jets are coached by Robert Saleh. Saleh cut his chops with the San Francisco 49ers, who have one of the best defenses in the NFL. Thus, these practices provide quality work against a trendy defensive scheme. Two, the coaching staffs are on the same page with their objectives. Packers coach Matt LaFleur and Saleh are close friends dating to their time on the staff at Central Michigan. LaFleur’s brother, Mike, is New York’s offensive coordinator.
So, Matt LaFleur encouraged Saleh to throw the kitchen sink at Rodgers and Co., and Saleh obliged. Similarly, Green Bay defensive coordinator Joe Barry got after Jets quarterback Zach Wilson. That’s good work for Green Bay, with rookie center Josh Myers and uncertainty at the guard positions, and for New York’s rookie quarterback and young secondary.
The number and variety of pressures stood in contrast to something that irked Rodgers in 2019.
“My issue was more we had a red-zone period and they dropped eight a bunch of times in a row. There’s not a lot of work to be accomplished in that situation,” Rodgers recalled as part of the accompanying video. “If you look at my career in the red zone, dropping eight has not been something that’s worked out very well for the defense, so I don’t think that would be in the plan for them. I just thought it was a total waste of a period. … We just didn’t know a lot of people on the Houston staff. It’s a different way of approaching the practices.”
Deciding to conduct joint practices was the easy part. Coordinating them proved more challenging. The ties and friendships between the staffs eased that burden.
“There’s just a lot of collaboration, and it’s easy when you communicate with people that you’re so close with,” LaFleur said before practice. “You can kind of have a lot of back and forth. I think it’s going to be really good for both teams.”
It also helps that both teams can dig into their playbooks without fear of the tape winding up in enemy hands. In 2019. John Pagano was Houston’s outside linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant. His brother, Chuck, was in Year 1 as Chicago’s defensive coordinator. Thus, the Packers kept things close to the vest, a fact that aggravated Rodgers as he acclimated to Year 1 of LaFleur’s offense.
“There’s always that paranoia that your practice tape is going to get out, there’s going to be talking amongst other teams and, ‘Hey, what’d you see, what’d they do?,’” Saleh said. “I think that if we can trust one another, I think our staffs can trust one another. All coordinators have pretty deep relationships, we’ve got relationships with the position coaches. There’s a trust that what happens in this practice will stay in this practice. I think that’s where it’s most beneficial.”
