In two seasons, Packers boss Matt LaFleur has had one of the most successful debuts as a rookie head coach in NFL history. In both campaigns he led the Packers to 13-3 records and two NFC North titles, as well appearances in the NFC Championship game.
So, it’s no surprise that LaFleur expects a lot of his team heading into this 2021 season. According to the latest odds with major bookmakers like 888Sport, Green Bay are tipped to have another successful season and maybe even improve on their last two under LaFleur.
Now entering his 13th season within the NFL, LaFleur is a coach with experience at all levels of the game, beginning with his playing days from 1998. He started out at Western Michigan, where he played quarterback and wide receiver.
Two seasons later, he transferred to Saginaw Valley State and played exclusively as quarterback before finishing his college playing career in 2002.
He then had a brief stint in the National Indoor Football League, playing for the Omaha Beef and Billings Outlaws, though he soon moved into his key passion; coaching.
He actually returned to Saginaw for his first coaching job, where he was hired as an offensive graduate assistant. He spent one season with the Cardinals, who finished the regular season with a record of 12-1 and claimed the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.
From 2004 to 2007, LaFleur moved between several successful collegiate systems, starting at Michigan State, through to Northern Michigan and eventually Ashland University. He was particularly impactful at Ashland where he served as offensive coordinator. The team made the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade in both seasons he was with them.
In 2008, he officially moved into the NFL when he joined the Houston Texans as their offensive assistant coach. He was there for two seasons; during the first, he worked under Larry Kirksey with the wide receivers and in his second year he worked closely with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan on the team’s quarterbacks.
After his time in Texas, LaFleur moved to the Washington Redskins in 2010 where he was put in charge of their quarterbacks. He actually made the move with Shanahan, who was brought on as the Redskins’ offensive coordinator.
At Washington, LaFleur coached rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III who set several franchise records and then featured in the Pro Bowl game. In 2012, the team also won the NFC East for the first time in 13 years, though that season was the only winning one LaFleur enjoyed during his four campaigns at Washington.
LaFleur actually returned to college football for one season in 2014 when he became the quarterbacks coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They finished the season with an 8-5 record and a win in the Music City Bowl.
He came back into the NFL fold in 2015, joining the Atlanta Falcons as their quarterback coach. Once again, he was working with Shanahan, who continued to mentor LaFleur in offensive strategies.
In LaFleur’s second season with the Falcons, the franchise made the Super Bowl game though ultimately lost out to the New England Patriots. However, their starting quarterback Matt Ryan was named the NFL’s MVP and the Offensive Player of the Year, a testament to LaFleur’s coaching.
Then, in 2017, he received a major promotion and became offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. Though he was only there for one season, the Rams saw a significant improvement on their previous campaign, winning seven more games in total and displaying an explosive offense.
LaFleur’s final assignment before joining the Packers was at the Tennessee Titans, where he also served as offensive coordinator though he had the added responsibility of calling their plays, too.
It was Green Bay who offered LaFleur his first head coach role, and he stepped into the position with class and vigor. He became the second head coach since the NFL moved to the divisional format in 1967 to win at least 13 games and a conference title in his first two seasons.
His 2020 season with the Packers was an excellent one. Their offense was the best in the NFL – no real surprise given LaFleur’s background – with 509 points, which was the second highest in the team’s history.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was also named MVP that season, with LaFleur’s coaching style proving instrumental in helping Rodgers lead the league in passer rating (121.5), passing touchdowns (48) and completion percentage (70.7).
With an extensive background in offensive coaching and learning under the likes of Shanahan, Matt LaFleur is already proving himself one of the most impressive head coaches in the NFL, despite still being a rookie.
As he moves into his third season in charge of the Packers, he will surely be aiming to progress even further in the postseason and continue to enhance the team’s offensive capabilities.
Great article! Love reading about out Coach’s background. Jordon Love is in a great spot for his career! Also the Packers have the perfect coach to deal with our next HOF QB!
Good and interesting article. Coaches don’t mean as much to a team as the players though. Just ask Bill Belichik.
I think there is more to the RG3 story other than the #2 pick 23 TD’s being a feather in LaFleurs cap.
His career essentially took a nose dive at the end of his rookie campaign in the playoffs.
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USA Today reported that – contrary to a previous statement made by head coach Mike Shanahan – Dr. James Andrews had not cleared Griffin to return for the post-injury plays in the December 9 game.[90] Griffin then re-injured his knee in the wild card loss to the Seahawks.[91] Griffin underwent surgery on January 9 and both his LCL and ACL were repaired.
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Apparently the Redskin coaching staff thought it would be a good idea to play an injured RG3 late season and in the wild card game. I can remember watching it unfold. I (like many fans) couldn’t believe they were really playing him.
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His star basically rose and fell in one rookie season.
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Sure, you could count his lackluster 2013 season, but 16 TD’s against 12 picks and 11 fumbles is not much to hang your hat on.
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He had a 7 season playing career, in his last 6 seasons he’s totaled 23 TD’s against 25 interceptions, coupled with a passer rating of….maybe he should retire.
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Now under LaFluer in 2010 Donavon McNabb threw under 60%, tossed 14 TD’s..15 picks and a 77 passer rating.
In 2011 under LaFleur Rex Grossman threw under 60%, tossed 16 TD’s to 20 picks and a 72 passer rating.
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Matt Ryan was already a good QB, but he had a great season under LeFleur/Shanahan. Which deserves more credit…i don’t know.
But i do know this, neither LeFleur/Shanahan knew how to secure a SB victory up 28-3.at halftime.
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I also agree with Deeps post 100%. Although i could make an argument for Belichik.
Belichik isn’t just any coach.
You don’t go to 10 SB’s by accident….even with Brady.
Championship football starts from the top down.
That’s how it is.
And that’s how it will always be.
Yup, Belichicks’ theory is “the game mostly is won at the line of scrimmage: on both sides of the ball”;;;;;;; which he learned from Parcells. Belichick is a master at taking away the opposing teams greatest strength.
With Belichik, there was so much more Mick….
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He also acted as GM, he was/is in charge of personnel moves.
He wouldn’t over pay
He could always find talent at a bargain price.
If he made a rare mistake he corrected it quickly (Haynesworth)
He had a knack of strengthening a weak position fairly quickly.
And so much more in management style.
Could he be burnt out now as a coach, it’s possible. We’ll see.
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Yes, he had Brady….but show me any other “Legendary” Championship winning coach and i’ll show you a bunch of franchise players…See Phil Jackson, See Walsh/Seifert, etc.
Belichiks an anomaly. He didn’t have a ton of franchise players. That wasn’t his formula for winning.
And yes…Brady took less money to help the team.
But make no mistake people, The Patriots knew what to do with it and spent it well, or Brady doesn’t keep giving it to them. Which was also an anomaly.
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Now…Rodgers saw how the Packers wasted money…too many times.
And some fans want to chide Rodgers for not giving the Packers 10’s of millions to buy players?
C’mon man….
Good points. Another thing, the Patriots have is an owner who is smart enough to realize what he has in his head coach and trusts that coach with the football side of the operations. Sure, there were a few bumps in the road; (namely the Brady—Garroppolo rift), but that organization runs pretty smoothly. Another interesting fact is that Belichick never gives a 3rd contract to a player, ( Brady being an exception); with his belief being that by the time a player reaches a 3rd contract, his athleticism and talent are in decline. Thus, he sees a player nearing a 3rd contract isn’t worth the high price.
I would argue the presence of Brady convinced players like Moss, Revis, Rodney Harrison, Amendola, Seau Stephen Gilmore and many other significant contributors to join the Patriots. Notice how the Patriots haven’t signed any big name free agents since Brady left?
I think (guess) Brady left because the Patriots stopped holding up their end of a long standing deal with Brady.
Take less money and we’ll give you a Championship caliber team.
It worked for a long time, they had a good run.
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The offense was reduced to barely nothing towards the end. The Patriots wanted to clean the slate and Brady saw it coming. Maybe the difference was Brady wasn’t under contract after the season.
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Don’t think there wasn’t any drama between Brady and the Patriots…they just handled it better, mostly because Brady had a clean break vs Rodgers who had received advanced cash and had 3 years left.
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Night and day situations.
There’s no doubt Matt LaFleur was one of the bright, young, ambitious, offensive coaches in the NFL when hired. The knock I’d heard from several NFL personnel was does he have the personality to command a team? Can he command a room? Will the players listen to him or is he too easy going? The answer seems to be yes. In fact, he’s the kind of young coach players can identify with in today’s NFL. It’ll be interesting to see if his success continues once Nathaniel Hackett becomes a HC.
Give the front office some blame and credit. Blame… they drafted Josh Jackson. Credit…they got a more clueless “braintrust” to give anything in return for him. Of course there is still the possibility GB lost the trade…but I doubt it.
Ya, they needed to cut bait with Jackson. He’s had 3 years to establish himself in 2 different defensive systems. Now entering his 4th, he could not make a niche for himself in the secondary, proven by the fact that the Pack keeps drafting in that area of the D. Too bad it was a waste of a high draft pick, whether he was mismanaged from day one, or whatever the reason. But watching this past weekend proved to everyone he doesn’t have the foot speed to keep up with receivers and his confidence is shot.
Just remember guys, that same “brain trust” drafted Jaire Alexander about 25 spots earlier. A player comp to Alexander would be Darrell Revis, or if you prefer, Charles Woodson when he could play corner. Most draft pundits and fans were clamoring for the Packers to select Leighton Van Der Esch at the time. The oft injured ILB the Cowboys refused to pick up the 5th yr option. That’s the beauty or curse of the draft. No GM bats a thousand. But you do have to hit more than you miss.
No doubt about it Tom. We’ve all seen teams draft “can’t miss players”; only to realize they’ve made a blunder. The draft is a crap shoot and the higher in the draft a player is picked, and doesn’t pan out, the more it stings.
The same brain trust hasn’t had a “hit” past the 2nd round.
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Now, of course, i’m not as smart as Purple Rain here is about NFL football, because he knows almost everything.
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Tom M July 11, 2021
As far as Rashan Gary. He’ll start opposite Za’Darious Smith. You can take that to the bank sweetheart….
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Mick…
The last Packer player drafted as a “can’t miss” i believe was the incredible bulk 32 years ago back in 89.
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I don’t think anyone was labeling Vonnie Holiday, Datone Jones, Jerel Worthy, Kevin King or Jorda….well…you get the picture.
Ah Tony Mandarich. Fun fact. According to Jimmy Johnson there were several folks on the Cowboys staff who wanted to take Mandarich over Troy Aikman. That’s how highly he was thought of.
Yea Deep…My first clue he was a fraud was when his “trainer” said…”If you want him stronger, i’ll make him stronger, if you want him faster, i’ll make him faster.” Can’t remember if that was in the Sports Illustrated article or where. But i remember it.
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Just before that, i got educated on roids from a guy i worked with who won Mr. Wisconsin back in the day. He told me all about being on the juice, how cycles timelines work, etc.
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When some Packer players finally said they literally saw his body shrinking in the locker room, i knew exactly what they were talking about.
I worked at a gym whose owner sold steroids. The gym had NFL Pro Bowlers, many competing bodybuilders, world record holding power lifters, etc. I knew everyone who was on them. They work really, really well as guys would go from muscular to giants in months. I would guess from the 60s to 90s most NFL players were on them.
I never took them, though the owner tried to convince me. One of my weightlifting partners took one cycle and got cancer 6 months later, that was enough to convince me to avoid them. A lot of those guys I knew died young of cancer. Including the owner.
This…from down the hall.
Someone commented Funchess needed to improve his catch percentage…here’s what transpired….
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Anonymous
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August 18, 2021 at 11:14 am
Completely agree except about the catch percentage. You’ve seen Cam Newton throw the ball right? MVS and Lazard had a lower catch percentage with Arron Rodgers throwing the ball.
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1st….Cam Newtons completion percentage improved from 60% to 66% the season after the Panthers deemed Funchess expandable.
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2nd…Alan Lazards catch rate with Rodgers is 69%. Now…from where i come from, that’s a very acceptable career catch rate.
Out of the realm of possibility for both Funchess and MVS.
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3rd…in 13 seasons Rodgers has a career 65% completion rate. Lazard has a 69% catch rate. Adams…65%
MVS has a 52% target catch rate….who is mostly at fault?
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Lessons learned….
A) Aaron is spelled with 2 a’s
B) Knowledge is your friend. Don’t give up on your GED.
C) Writing false statements, telling blatant lies, is no way to go through life. Tell him Tommie.
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Your doing it again PF4L. That thing you always do, blabbering numbers. Catch rate? Who the hell cares about catch rate? I’m sure the catch rate will figure prominently In whether Funchess makes the team. NOT! But we’ll all wait with baited breath for your next in-depth preseason postgame grade on a bunch of players that have no chance to make the 53.
Nobody cares about catch rate Tommie.
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What would a wide receivers catch rate have anything to do with making a NFL roster? Pffttt…
Nothing…right Tommie?
A guy with a 20% catch rate would make almost anyone’s team….ain’t that right pumkin?
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Just another useless stat…ain’t dat right sweetheart?
PF4L, when is the last time a coach said, “I’m cutting a WR because he has a poor catch rate.” Or a WR say, “I need to improve my catch rate to get a bigger contract.” Let me answer for you. NEVER! Once again, it’s one of those useless bullshit stats you get a hard on for. “Look at me, I’m talking stats, therefore I know what I’m taking about.” I’ve told you this before. You never hear coaches and front office personnel talk stats. Never. Stats are for contract negotiations and for the fans. Player evaluation, not so much. I’ll even give you an example. You gave us such a glowing report on camp arm Kurt Benkert. Boldly predicting he’ll make the 53 as the third QB. All because he completed a few passes in the second half of a meaningless preseason game against third and fourth string players who won’t make the Texans. But he’s got stats you can quantify and qualify so your certain it has to mean something. It does not. He’s got practice squad written all over him. If he was good enough, he’d be backing up Matt Ryan in Atlanta. He isn’t. Same with Tim Boyle. You cried like a little bitch because Love was behind Boyle on the depth chart last year. It didn’t mean a fucking thing then and it doesn’t mean a fucking thing now. Tim Boyle was 8/15 for 38 yrs in his first game for Detroit and if he doesn’t get his shit together soon career nobody David Blough is going to beat him out to be the backup QB for the Lions. Listen to what the coaches were saying about Jordan Love. He stood tall in the pocket, he had good pocket awareness, he read the defense. MLF even said, “he needs to trust what he sees and let it rip.” Never once did you hear Hackett or LaFleur say, “Jordan was 12-17 for 122 yards and a passer rating of 110!” BFD! The coaches wanted to see certain aspects of his game to see if he’s developing. Stats isn’t one of them.
You gave us such a glowing report on camp arm Kurt Benkert. Boldly predicting he’ll make the 53 as the third QB.
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I said….they’d keep 3 QB’s.
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But again,,,make shit up what i say as you go along. That’s what you do.
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You are such a piece of shit, i can’t even imagine how your parents could love you.
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Which might explain why you are, the way you are.
Alright, if not Benkert as the third QB. Who then PF4L? The Easter Bunny? Cuz up until Monday we only had three QB’s in camp. And the first two Rodgers and Love are a lock. And by your astute evaluation you thought Benkert looked great! Even better than Love. We kept three QB’s last year because it was necessary for Jordan Love’s development. He needed to be on the sidelines, in the QB room, learning how to be a pro, learning from Rodgers. He needed to be engaged. It’s all part of the process. Love’s been elevated to Rodgers backup this year. It’s the next step. Whatever Kurt Benkert or someone like him does in second half of preseason games won’t change anything. It’s called draft and develop. And that’s exactly what’s going on here. Jordan Love is on a 5 year rookie contract with the fifth year optional. The Packers have already picked up the fifth year. They knew this was going to take time. That Love was a work in progress. And the Packers are doing this the right way. Bringing him along slowly. Here’s what I see. We keep two QB’s on the roster and one on the practice squad. The only way that changes is if injury to Love is significant. You say we keep three QB’s. Let’s revisit this at the final cut down and see which way it goes.
“We keep two QB’s on the roster and one on the practice squad.”
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How many is that dumbfuck?
Very astute observation….Color me impressed.
My apologies for the link JP…but that analysis has to be shared, upper level.
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“Kylin Hill: Two mistakes in one play here by Hill. First,seeing the defensive end has beaten Cole Van Lanen to the edge, Hill veers slightly off course before he has the ball. But even if he stayed true, look at Hill’s right hand. He brings it into his body way too soon, before he even feels a ball there. You can expect to see Hill doing on handoff drills in practice this week.” – J. Al
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cheeseheadtv.com/sites/default/files/hill_fumble_1.gif
This is above Tommies minimum wage pay grade.
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He’s too busy figuring out a way to pass a law against anyone discussing football stats..in football blogs, sports talk shows, in game announcers, football tailgate parties, even in his Trailer Park.
HE’S NOT HAVING IT!!
lmao.
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He’ll be busy figuring that out for awhile :)
Tom M August 18, 2021
Your doing it again PF4L. That thing you always do, blabbering numbers. Catch rate? Who the hell cares about catch rate? I’m sure the catch rate will figure prominently In whether Funchess makes the team. NOT! But we’ll all wait with baited breath for your next in-depth preseason postgame grade on a bunch of players that have no chance to make the 53.
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Join us tomorrow when Tommie lectures all of us football novices on….
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How a QB’s TD/int ratio or completion percentage stat….is meaningless and has no bearing on making a NFL roster.
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Because….Tommie explains….No one cares!!
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Don’t miss this…where else can you learn so much….for free!!
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Although he will be offering T-shirts for sale that read……
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NFL STATS ARE DUM, for only $22.95 each. :)
Because…it’s funny, in a pathetic sense….
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Tom M August 18, 2021
“PF4L, when is the last time a coach said, “I’m cutting a WR because he has a poor catch rate.” Or a coach saying ” I’m cutting that running back because he fumbles too much.” Let me answer for you. NEVER! Once again, it’s one of those useless bullshit stats you get a hard on for.”
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Well maybe your right Tommie…..maybe a receiver has NEVER been cut because he has too many drops.
And maybe a running back has NEVER been cut because he fumbles too much.
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Makes sense to me now Tommie, you sure are smart. Did you go to College?
ONLY under a “custodial” function would be my guess . . . and if he did; it most certainly would not have been in the “Linguistics” dept . . . On the other hand! There is always; “Living Better in Moms Basement 105 (A refresher course)”. I believe that would be a discipline that he may struggle with . . .
MMSUCKS! You rascal! How have you been? Fortunately this site has you, Cheesy, and PF4L to light the way and tell us all how it really is. Just be careful with PF4L, he has the mind of a child…..
Well Tom I think he had a pretty bad accident a few years ago? I dont think his melon has been the same since. He probably think Joe Biden is a genius…..
PF4L and MMSUCKS, it’s like together you have one mind! Your both so amazing!