GREEN
BAY
David
Bakhtiari Jersey , Wis. (AP) — In keeping his starters in street clothes
for Thursday’s preseason game in Winnipeg, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur
decided to follow his instincts.“It was just something in my gut,” LaFleur said
on Friday, a day after a 22-21 loss to the Oakland Raiders. “I was told when you
get this job to always trust your gut. The risk-reward wasn’t worth it to
me.”With a late change of plans, LaFleur kept 33 players on the sideline — a
lengthy list that included quarterback Aaron Rodgers — because of the
less-than-ideal field conditions.Nonetheless, outside linebacker Rashan Gary,
inside linebacker Curtis Bolton and receiver Equanimeous St. Brown suffered
injuries during the first half of the team’s third preseason game.In a post on
his Instagram account, Gary — the 12th pick in this year’s draft — said he’s
“well” and thanked fans for their prayers and concern. Gary chased down running
back James Butler and had his neck bent backward in the collision. Gary stayed
on the field for a few minutes before walking off the field and then being
carted to the locker room.St. Brown sustained an injured left ankle when his
foot got stuck in the turf following a helmet-to-helmet collision. He reportedly
will be sidelined for at least the first month of the season. Bolton suffered a
knee injury and was on crutches after the game.At least there is potential depth
at receiver. It’s a different story at inside linebacker, where the team had
lost second-year starter Oren Burks with a pectoral injury.The undrafted Bolton
had positioned himself to be Burks’ replacement. The injuries leave the team
with only veteran starter Blake Martinez, seventh-round rookie Ty Summers and
former undrafted free agents James Crawford and Brady Sheldon.“I’m pretty
confident that we’ll find the right
solution
Ty Summers
Green Bay Packers Jersey ,” said LaFleur, declining to talk in specifics
about any of the injuries.For LaFleur, a first-year head coach, this training
camp and preseason would serve as a critical time to get his offense ready for a
Week 1 showdown at Chicago.Instead, having decided to keep most of his starters
out of the preseason opener against Houston, again against Oakland and almost
certainly in the final preseason game against Kansas City, LaFleur’s No. 1
offense will have minimal game action before the regular season.Rodgers and top
running back Aaron Jones, who were supposed to play against the Raiders, haven’t
played at all in the preseason. Star receiver Davante Adams has played seven
snaps. The No. 1 offensive line has played 15 snaps.Then again, this is part of
the new NFL reality. LaFleur spent 2017 as the offensive coordinator for Rams
coach Sean McVay; McVay hasn’t played his top players in the preseason.
Chicago’s No. 1
offense
Ty Summers
Jersey 2019 , led by quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, has played three
snaps.“I think everybody has a different philosophy on that,” LaFleur said. “It
really goes back to being confident in the work that you get in throughout the
entire training camp. I think that’s a big reason why you see a lot of these
teams that are scrimmaging multiple teams to get the necessary competitive work,
yet not put those guys at risk in those games when guys are live and you’re
going to the ground. I think that’s something that we’ll look into the future,
as well.”The Packers will return to the practice field on Sunday, Monday and
Tuesday before Thursday’s preseason finale against the Chiefs at Lambeau
Field.LaFleur said he was considering splitting his squad into two groups this
week. On one side of the field, the front-line players would turn their
attention to the Bears. On the other side of the field, the players battling for
roster spots would get ready for the Chiefs.“There are still some positional
battles that are going on,” LaFleur said, “and you want to make sure these guys
going into the last preseason game are well-prepared in terms of what they’re
going to see so they can go out and play good quality football.”Two of those
position battles are quarterback and receiver. In the chase to be Rodgers’
backup
Color Rush Ty
Summers Jersey , Tim Boyle threw two touchdown passes in the first half
against Oakland and outplayed DeShone Kizer. LaFleur, however, said he’d wait
until after the Kansas City game to pick a winner.At receiver, Trevor Davis made
a strong statement in his competition with St. Brown, Allen Lazard and Darrius
Shepherd for one of the final spots. Davis returned from a stinger that
sidelined him for two weeks and caught five passes for 78 yards and one
touchdown, carried once for 18 yards and returned one punt for 17 yards.“When
his number was called, he made plays,” LaFleur said. “That’s what we’re going to
continue to ask from him but he answered the bell.” Packers outside linebacker
Clay Matthews wanted to get a clarification from the NFL’s competition committee
on the newest version of roughing the passer rules.So he walked down the hall
and got one.Via聽Ryan Wood of the
Green Bay Press-Gazette, Matthews said
he met with Packers president Mark Murphy (a member of the committee), and
Murphy told him he wasn’t doing anything wrong.鈥淚 think it was more so just
continue to play in the way in which I
have
Cheap Ty
Summers Jersey ,鈥?Matthews said of Murphy’s message.Packers coaches had
already told Matthews聽鈥渘ot to change a thing,鈥?after he’s become the poster boy
for puzzling roughing the passer calls.The league put out a clarification and a
video to explain what they want to see moving forward, and Matthews noted that
all of the hits he was penalized for were 鈥渃onveniently left out of the teaching
video.”鈥淚f they continue to call it like that,鈥?Matthews said, 鈥淚 think there鈥檚
going to be more penalties, players are obviously going to be upset, coaches are
going to continue to not know how to coach it and fans will continue to be upset
by the fact that the NFL can鈥檛 seem to get out of its own way.鈥滸iven the
piecemeal approach to rules-making they’ve continued to show, it’s hard to argue
with Matthews’ larger point.
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