Matt LaFleur Solves Packers’ Problems at Cardinals With Aggression

With the Packers facing a three-point deficit on Sunday, it seemed almost certain that the Packers would lean that way again.

Unless you watched what happened throughout the game leading up to that decision.

Early in the game, the Packers faced two fourth downs on their opening series. The first was converted with a pass from Love to Matthew Golden. The second was a miss by Love to Romeo Doubs for what would have been a touchdown.

LaFleur’s aggressiveness did not stop there.

Late in the first half, the Cardinals took a 13-3 lead with just 7 seconds left on the clock.

Instead of taking a knee and getting out of the half, LaFleur ignored what happened in Dallas three weeks ago and tried to steal points before halftime. The result was a 22-yard completion to Doubs and a franchise-record 61-yard field goal by Lucas Havrisik.

“There’s always thoughts of the situations that have happened in the past and you can’t let that hinder the decision making to go for it,” Love said when asked about that series.

“We’re always going to try and be aggressive. I love that. I love to go for it in that situation, and it worked out right there. That’s one where we got back to the drawing boards and this is a great situation, a great play to learn from and keep finding ways to stack it. But Dallas, you have to learn from plays like that and find ways to be better.”

That level of aggressiveness did not stop there, and really culminated at a gut-check moment late in the game.

The situation was simple, as laid out above.

The Packers could have kicked a field goal and trusted their defense to try and give them the ball back.

Instead, LaFleur played to win the game.

Former college defensive coordinator Don Brown’s most famous saying was, “Solve your problems with aggression.”

Prior to Sunday’s game, LaFleur had been haunted by the phrase, “All gas, no brakes.”

Sunday, he summed his decision making up with a shorter phrase.

“Scared money don’t make money.” LaFleur said with a smile.

With the chips on the table, LaFleur pushed them to the center of the table. The result was a 15-yard completion to Kraft for a first down. Two plays later, the Packers’ defense was protecting a lead instead of trying to preserve a tie.

Josh Jacobs’ 1-yard touchdown capped off a gritty day when it looked like he may not have even been able to play at the start of the afternoon.

Ultimately, what it boils down to is LaFleur showing faith in his offense and, most notably, his quarterback to make things work even if the situation was not ideal.

That’s something that resonated with the rest of the team.

“I got a 200-million-dollar quarterback that I trust,” Micah Parsons said. “When you playing opposite of 10, R.G (Rashan Gary). like, ‘Oh, they going for it.’ I said, ‘Sit back down.’ You got to trust, so I got trust in J-Love, Matt, those guys that understand that we practice those situations all the time and I just knew they'd be ready for that moment.”

Trailing by three points late in the fourth quarter on the road was a huge problem, but it was a problem that LaFleur and his offense solved with aggression.

From there, the defense slammed the door.

Like two weeks ago, a different decision could have been made and the Packers could be sitting at 3-2-1.

Instead, they’re 4-1-1 and atop the NFC North standings.