[ad_1]
- The Green Bay Packers lost to the New Orleans Saints 38-3 in their first game of the season.
- Head coach Matt LaFleur said the Packers were “absolutely embarrassed” and berated their efforts.
- Aaron Rodgers appeared to take the loss a bit easier, saying it was “just one game”.
Aaron Rodgers and the 2021 Green Bay Packers campaign got off to a rocky start with a 38-3 shellacking at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.
Head coach Matt LaFleur was disappointed with his team’s efforts after the game.
“They came ready to play; absolutely embarrassed us today,” LaFleur told reporters. “Our guys are going to have to look at each other for a long time in the mirror. It starts with me. Obviously, I didn’t prepare these guys to go play ball.”
“It’s very humiliating to say the least,” said LaFleur. “We have to get back to work. This is not going to be fixed like magic.”
On the pitch, Rodgers played one of the worst games of a career that has had few such performances. The reigning NFL MVP completed just 15 of his 28 attempted passes for 133 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions for a 36.8 quarterback rating, his second worst score since 2014.
But despite the disappointing stat line, Rodgers didn’t seem as worried about the team’s poor effort as his head coach.
“I’ll let him use those words, and I’ll use ‘this is just a game’,” Rodgers said when asked for his opinion on LaFleur’s post-game statement. “We played badly. I played badly. Offensively, we didn’t perform very well. One game. We have 16.”
This is far from the first time Rodgers has had to ask everyone to keep calm after a disappointing loss, and to his credit, he has generally backed up his big words.
This time around, Rodgers said he believes it will be easier for the team to bounce back as the loss came at the start of the year.
“We’re coming out of a few NFC championship games and obviously we feel good about the unity we have on offense.… So it’s a good kick in the you-know-where. Hope we go in. the right direction to go home and play a division opponent [Detroit] next week.”
Rodgers joked in the offseason that his MVP year in 2020 had ruined his plans to leave the Packers, and the tension during the offseason at Green Bay made it look like this could be Rodgers’ last year with the ‘team.
If this is Rodgers’ last round with the Packers, LaFleur needs to be on the same page as him before the start of week two.
[ad_2]
Source link