Packers’ Matt LaFleur Makes Interesting Admission

The Green Bay Packers were supposed to beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Quickly, it looked like they were on their way.

The Packers got the ball to start the game. Eight plays and 69 yards later, it was 7-0. One Cowboys three-and-out later, the Packers were on the move again. A third-and-18 screen to Savion Williams gained 16 yards, making it fourth-and-2 from Dallas’ 49.

Coach Matt LaFleur kept the offense on the field. Rather than all gas and no brake, it was all brake and a delay-of-game penalty.

Presumably, with the Jordan Love offense sprinting out of the starting block and Dallas’ defense on its heels, LaFleur thought about going for it on fourth down, right?

Nope.

“Never thought of going for it right there,” LaFleur said.

Really?

“I know some of our guys wanted us to go for it,” LaFleur said.

There were two schools of thought. The first was to go for it and hope to ride the momentum to a 14-0 lead. And if Dallas got a stop, trust an elite defense to keep the Cowboys’ off the scoreboard. The second was to punt, trust an elite defense to get the stop and go back on offense.

LaFleur opted for the second option.

“Here’s the deal,” LaFleur said. “If that happened in the second half, based on the complexion of the game, I probably would’ve had a different decision. In the first half, the way our defense has been playing up until this point and with the kicker they have, (Brandon) Aubrey, you’re already in field-goal range for him.

“Hindsight’s 20/20. Had I known the game was going to go the way it was going to go, would’ve gone for it. But, unfortunately, you don’t have that foresight all the time of how the game’s going to go.”

It’s the kind of conservative approach that has gone out of favor in the NFL. The Lions’ Dan Campbell is one of the ringleaders of the all-gas approach but he’s not alone. It’s a small sample size but there have been 12 instances of teams facing a fourth-and-2 from between midfield and the opponent’s 45-yard line this season, according to Stathead. The offense has gone for it eight times, punted twice and, as Green Bay opted to do in the situation, taken a delay of game twice.

If the NFL is the most popular sport in the United States, second-guessing the football coach after an upset loss might be the second-most popular. However, the reality is LaFleur’s decision worked. Daniel Whelan’s punt pinned the Cowboys at the 11. Dallas gained one first down before it punted the ball back to the Packers. With decent field position, Green Bay took the ball and drove for a touchdown to lead 13-0.

Betting on the defense seemed like a smart idea in the moment. Green Bay’s defense was dominant in the first three games and to start Sunday’s game.

Would the way the defense finished that game, having allowed 40 points, 436 yards and five touchdowns in a span of six games change LaFleur’s way of thinking?

“I don’t think anything’s an absolute,” he said. “I think every game is its own game and you got to judge based on the flow of the game, who you’re going against, who they have. I’d say there’s a lot of layers to it, a lot of factors in determining whether or not to go for it in those situations.”

The Packers are 2-of-3 on fourth down this season. Through the small sample size of the first four weeks of the season, only one team has gone for it less than Green Bay. Carolina leads the way with 11, followed by the Chiefs and Jets with 10, and the Browns, Lions and Giants with nine.

During the LaFleur era, Green Bay has gone for it 131 times on fourth down, which ranks 17th. Cleveland is first with 196, followed by Detroit with 192 and Carolina with 190. Seattle (97), San Francisco (98) and Kansas City (98) are at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Another fourth down that LaFleur didn’t consider going for was the final one of the game. On fourth-and-14 from the 16 with 1 second remaining in overtime, sending out the field-goal unit to salvage a tie was a no-brainer.

“Interesting,” he said of the premise. “Let them come up here and answer questions after the game. It’s great if it works out, but I would say it’s probably less than 5 percent.”