Thursday LaFleur: Pushups for Offense

Here’s what Packers coach Matt LaFleur had to say before the second practice of training camp on Thursday, July 27.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Jul 27, 2023 3:02 PM EDT
Original:
Jul 27, 2023

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ offense, pushed around a bit by the defense during the first day of training camp on Wednesday, ended the practice doing pushups.

“We had a competition period, a third-down period where there was seven reps and the defense won that handily,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Thursday’s practice.

The offense tried to gets its revenge during a red-zone period on Thursday but failed. The penalty was 10 up-downs.

Here are a few more highlights from LaFleur’s pre-practice news conference.

How was Day 1?

“I think there was a lot of good out there. Certainly, one side’s always going to typically get the better of the other side. That’s just the balance that you’ve got to play throughout training camp. But, more than anything, just the things that we can control, that’s what we’re looking at, especially early on just the energy, the attitude, the effort, guys communicating, getting all 11 out there on the same and so there’s a lot of good things. Certainly, there’s a lot of things from an execution standpoint that we have to clean up.”

LaFleur didn’t think it was overly windy on Wednesday. “Was it windy yesterday?” So, was it a concern that Jordan Love had some problems with his deep ball?

“I think that you're always going to want some throws back as a quarterback. There were a couple that I think he probably should've put a little more air under and that's just part of it early on in camp. We're never going to overreact to anything on the first day.”

Last year’s third-round pick, offensive lineman Sean Rhyan, was buried on the depth chart before serving a season-ending suspension. Is it a clean slate?

“I think every year is a new year for all these guys. Hopefully, he learned from that experience. You don’t always learn from your successes. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to fall on your face a little bit. It’s about how you respond to that. But I do think he has responded the right way. I’m excited about just his approach that he’s taken. He’s locked in in the meetings. Ultimately, he’s got to go do it out on the field.”

On rookie tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft.

“They’re both very intelligent guys who are not afraid to work. We almost have to protect those guys from themselves at times. Walking out of the staff meetings last night, after all the meetings and they’re still in here talking about things, walking through things. They’re not afraid of the work. They’re going to put it in. I have a lot of confidence in [tight ends coach] John Dunn and being able to articulate the expectations and the standards of that position and what’s expected of those guys. They’ve got skillsets, obviously. They’re very different in their own way. Obviously, Musgrave, he can flat fly and Tucker’s a big body guy that has a lot of versatility to him. It’s going to be fun to watch these guys grow along the way.”