Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s decision to attempt a field goal from the Tampa Bay eight-yard line down eight points with 2:09 to go in the NFC Championship is still hotly debated. LaFleur does have a regret over that series of events, but it’s not the play call.
LaFleur blamed himself for poor communication with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, adding that he must do better in that regard going forward.
“One thing you definitely learn: I know my communication with [Rodgers] should have been better in that situation,” LaFleur told Peter King of Football Morning in America. “Maybe on that third down we do something a little bit different. His mindset was, ‘we got four downs here.’ It comes down to communication, and that’s something I gotta learn from and be better with him.”
While Rodgers was cautious about throwing his coach under the bus after the decision, it was pretty clear that he thought he had four downs to work with. LaFleur was never operating under that assumption. It’s unlikely to have made the decision to kick the field goal any better, but maybe Rodgers operates differently if he has a better idea of his coach’s mindset.
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