Packers HC nearly scrapped pre-planned opening deep threat pass against Lions

DETROIT — Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur professed his respect and admiration for Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn and the rest of the Detroit Lions organization after his team’s 29-22 victory on Thanksgiving Day. In fact, it’s large in part why LaFleur knew his team had to be aggressive from the start against their division rival.

On the game’s opening play, Packers quarterback Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson on a 53-yard bomb, that swung the momentum in Green Bay’s favor. And they never looked back. When speaking to reporters after the game, Love stated that he learned on Wednesday of the intentions to open the with deep threat attacking Detroit’s secondary.

LaFleur broke down how the play came to fruition in detail when speaking to reporters after the game. And that’s when he shared the intriguing detail that he almost scrapped the momentum-setting play just hours before the game.

“I think anytime you’re going against a really explosive offense, it was one of those deals. As a matter of fact, I almost changed that first play call,” LaFleur said. “I was kind of mulling it over quite a bit, and I texted Jordan this morning and told him I was going to change it to something else, and he said he wanted this call. So I said, ‘okay.’

I wasn’t quite sure where the ball was going to go. I had a good idea it might go to Christian, or I thought maybe Rome. Just with the action that we have, I was concerned that we didn’t have the check downs that we might need, but our protection was phenomenal because it was kind of a leader-developing play to throw a post. And I told Christian right before the game, I said, ‘Hey, there’s a good chance this play is going to go to you. Just go up with it and attack the football.’ He did exactly that.”

In addition to the plan to start aggressively against a Lions defense that has allowed an average of 31 points in their last three games, LaFleur highlighted specific areas where he believed Detroit’s defense was strong and posed challenges for Green Bay. He also outlined the strategies he knew his team needed to employ to overcome these challenges.

“I think they do a really good job of floating the box and stopping the run. I mean, that’s what they want to be about,” LaFleur said. “So, we knew that we were going to have to try to open up the run through the pass. They’re a very aggressive unit. I think they’re very well-coached, very sound, and they play with a reckless abandon in a good way.

I’ve got a lot of respect for Aaron Glenn, obviously Dan Campbell, and what they’ve been able to establish here. I think those guys play the right way, and it’s a challenge to go against this defense. We felt like we needed to use the pass a little bit to maybe soften them up to be able to get some rushing yards because, I want to say, just looking at it throughout the course of the season, there were four explosive runs on tape. So, it’s harder to run the ball against this defense.”