Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur believes the Packers learned a valuable lesson in a 27-2 preseason loss against the Denver Broncos. After sitting 31 players, including all of Green Bay’s starters, Matt LaFleur spoke to reporters about his critical decision after the game.
“That was a long night,” LaFleur said, per ESPN.com. “I was hoping our guys would come out with more strain, effort, grit. We were kind of getting humbled the other day in practice and to have it happen again wasn’t where we want to be. It was a good lesson for our guys in terms of it doesn’t matter who’s out there. If you don’t put your best foot forward each and every time you go out on that field, these things can happen to you.”
LaFleur has the right to feel disappointed. With Green Bay’s starters watching from the sideline, few anticipated the Packers would outshine the Broncos starting players, while many expected a better overall performance from the Broncos.
Keidron Smith’s 56-yard interception from Packers quarterback Sean Clifford and Broncos’ Jarrett Stidham’s 9-yard scramble for a touchdown in the first half granted the Broncos a 17-0 lead at halftime. The Broncos’ defense held the Packers’ offense to a scoreless first half, while Denver’s offense scored two touchdowns in the second quarter.
“We’re going to have to regroup, take a long, hard look at the mirror, and we gotta get better,” LaFleur added. “We need that urgency from everybody.”
The Packers and Broncos’ joint practices
Jordan Love, the Packers’ starting quarterback, got his reps in throughout the week’s joint practice against the Broncos, setting the stage for backup quarterback and potential trade candidate Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt to play all of Sunday’s exhibition against the team they spent all week practicing with.
However, coach LaFleur isn’t pointing to his decision as the reason for the Packers’ shortcomings in their 17-2 blowout loss to the Broncos. And he hopes he’ll see a sense of urgency in his team’s response in next week’s third and final exhibition matchup.
“The production kind of speaks for it, but it wasn’t just on them,” LaFleur pointed out, per AtoZ.com's Wendell Ferreira. “It’s everybody, it’s all eleven. We gotta block better upfront, we gotta finish runs better, we had a couple drops. So I think it’s just collectively all eleven gotta be better for us to have any success offensively.”
On Saturday, the Packers will host the Baltimore Ravens in their final preseason game.
Follow Us
Subscribe
