Nothing like a little football work on a “summer day in Green Bay.” Those were the words of Head Coach Matt LaFleur about the balmy, mid-30’s temperatures as the Packers began their playoff preparations with a brisk, one hour workout on Clarke Hinkle Field today.
LaFleur wanted to get his guys re-acclimated to the outdoors after working inside the Don Hutson Center all last week before the regular season finish indoors at Ford Field in Detroit. I’m pretty sure he’s hoping for more seasonal January thermometer readings when the Packers host the NFC Divisional Round playoff game next weekend.
There was plenty of enthusiasm on the far south end of Hinkle where the outside linebackers were doing drills as Za’Darius Smith was practicing for the first time since the opening week of the season. After missing almost all of training camp with back issues, Smith put in 18 snaps against the New Orleans Saints in Jacksonville on opening day before the back flared up again. That led to surgery and the long road to recovery is nearly at the finish line.
With the offensive linemen was Billy Turner, back from a knee injury suffered in November and a day removed from getting activated onto the roster from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
Aaron Jones and De’Vondre Campbell, who both sat out the Lions game as a precaution with knee and elbow issues, were also back, as was Chandon Sullivan who left the Detroit game with a knee injury.
Jaire Alexander appeared ready to return from his shoulder injury in October but a week on the Reserve/COVID-19 list prevented that. He rejoined the defensive backs today as well.
The only players not spotted during the open portion of practice were David Bakhtiari, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Kingsley Keke. For Bakhtiari who made his season debut last Sunday, it was considered a “load management day” by a Packer spokesman. Vadles-Scantling suffered a back injury in Detroit but LaFleur didn’t update his situation today. Keke has been battling a non-COVID related illness for over a week.
LaFleur wants the team to get in three solid days of conditioning, he wants to keep them mentally sharp and focused before they get the weekend off.
Just when it appeared the team was finally virus free for the first time in over a month, the Packers placed guard Lucas Patrick on the Reserve/COVID-19 list today. After releasing guard Ben Braden Tuesday, the Packers quickly brought him back onto the practice squad.
While the team was cheering the arrivals of key veteran players in advance of their run to the Super Bowl, LaFleur was concerning himself about the potential departure of two of his offensive assistants.
Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has at least three interviews set up for NFL Head Coaching vacancies, Jacksonville on Friday, Denver and Chicago on Saturday. Quarterbacks Coach and Passing Game Coordinator Luke Getsy has also emerged as a candidate for the Broncos job, expecting to interview on the weekend as well.
LaFleur addressed the situation today by saying he encourages his hard working assistants to aspire for promotions compared to some teams that often deny permission to key lieutenants seeking interviews:
Aaron Rodgers also chimed on Hackett and Getsy saying both are more than qualified and capable of becoming a Head Coach.
Rodgers also was asked about his nearly healed pinkie toe. Outside of taking a painful numbing agent, he hasn’t had any other injections for the last couple of weeks and he believes with another 10 days off before playing again, he thinks it will be close to 100%.
And when he asked what he’ll get out of the bye weekend off, he said, “Rest, rest. I mean I’m about to go home at what, 12:22? Pretty frickin’ sweet. So I’m gonna enjoy this rest. I’ve still got, like a lot people, a semi-messy house full of Christmas and New Years and it’s the end of the season so I don’t have time for that stuff so I’m gonna clean my house, I’m gonna rest, gonna read some books and relax. That’s what I’m gonna get out this weekend.”
Guess it’s kind of like the lull before the NFL’s storm.
