It’s a game that happens every year. For some reason the team comes out flat, not energized and lays an egg. The other team gets paid as well so you have to give them credit where credit is due, they whoop the Packers from start to finish. Now, it’s time for the team to move on because everything is still right in front of this team.
How this team bounces back will be critical. This is the first real adversity that Matt Lafleur and his team will face. The team will the Carolina Panthers at Lambeau at 3:25 pm on Sunday before having their bye week. When they return, they will head west again to take on Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers. Before that road trip, the Packers need to evaluate everything about this last week so that it doesn’t happen again in two weeks.
In his press conference yesterday, head coach Matt Lafleur stated that he wants everything under a microscope to make sure the players are better prepared, physically and mentally, for the next west coast trip.
“I think anytime you go out there and you have a game like that, you kind of look at everything you did,” LaFleur said. “I think all of us coaches, players, have to look inward and make sure we were doing the right things and really learn from that experience so we don’t have another one of those moving forward.”
It’s all about self reflection as well. The players need to look in the mirror at themselves and ask if they did everything they were suppose to in taking care of their bodies leading up to the game and if they were fully prepared themselves.
The Chargers had 60+ plays on offense. When you don’t play a team very often, like you would a divisional opponent, there are about 20 plays or so that are not scouted. Those are the plays that your defensive coordinator can’t help with. This comes from your preparation, did the player study when he wasn’t around the facility and coaches. It’s in this preparation and handful of plays that make a good player great and decides the game.
It was a normal Monday for the team at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. In the film review, the coaches showed the players the good, and the bad. This time, there was’t a lot of good shown and mostly bad that was discussed. The bad wasn’t just in one phase of the game either, it was in all phases, so equal blame was passed around.
This team has the right make up of leaders across the board to process what happened, hold each other accountable and bounce back. They don’t have a lot of time, a tough opponent battling for a playoff spot in the Carolina Panthers are coming to Green Bay. Time will tell if it was just a bump in the road or a deeper issue, because they head out west again in two weeks. Go Pack Go!!
Anthony Haag is a writer for PackersTalk.com. He has been a Packers fan since the day he was born and truly bleeds green and gold. He makes annual visits to Lambeau Field and has attended his fair share of games. You can follow Anthony on Twitter at @anthony_haag
