LaFleur’s confidence in playmakers carves out another win

GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers (4-1-1) ground out a 27-23 win against the Arizona Cardinals (2-5), despite having to deal with a range of less than preferential conditions. 

“I can’t say enough about our guys. From the moment we got on the trip, nothing seemed to go right. In-game, there were a lot of things that didn’t go right, but the guys kept battling, and that’s what it takes in this league. It’s encouraging that we haven’t played our best ball. Give credit to Arizona, I thought that they were a scrappy team—we knew that going in,” said Head Coach Matt LaFleur. 

Packers Placekicker Brandon McManus faced another week of dealing with his quadricep injury as Lucas Havrisik took stepped up to fill in as the Packers continue to flight for as many wins as possible after their unanticipated loss to the Cleveland Browns (2-5) and their overtime tie with the Dallas Cowboys (3-3-1) earlier this season.

With seconds left in the first half, the Packers looked to put some points on the board as special teams took to the field being down 10-3. 

Havrisik managed to not only sink a 61-yard field goal, but to also break former kicker Mason Crosby’s franchise record for the longest field goal in the process. 

“Well, when our quarterback’s coming off and I can see the disdain on his face—I looked up at the clock (and) saw how much time was left. It wasn’t, by any means, a chip shot, although (K) Lucas (Havrisik) has come in and done a hell of a job. It was just one of those deals where I was like, ‘No matter what we call, this guy is going to make it work,’ and that’s exactly what happened,” said LaFluer. “I’m sure the analytic guys will love this one—the probability of us kicking a field goal there versus throwing a ‘Hail Mary,’ I would say it would heavily be in favor of a long field goal right there. How about that? Franchise record. Unbelievable. Hell of a job.”

Since releasing Crosby, the Packers have struggled to find a reliable kicker who can take care of business in critical situations — securing McManus in 2024 seemed to alleviate that stress, and the recent addition of Havrisik has continued to work in their favor. 

“He’s answered every challenge that’s been put in front of him. We don’t win that game without his ability to go out there and make all of his tries—his attempts. A 61-yarder—I didn’t envision that going into the game, but he’s done a hell of a job,” said LaFleur. 

Packers Quarterback Jordan Love admitted that LaFleur’s confidence in his players’ abilities carried them through a lot of critical situations, including getting points on the board going into the second half. 

“I’m thinking that we’re just going to go out there and knee it. Matt made that decision to get a play off, get a big chunk, bang a time out and get into field goal range. I'm glad that we did that. That's another situation where he's got that confidence and trust in us to try to find away to go put it in field goal range. To make that, that’s a big time field goal at the end of the half and those three points came back to be so beneficial in this game where those are those points that you never know when they will come back at the end of the game. I think that was a huge way to end the half,” said Love. 

Beyond Havrisik’s performance, running back Josh Jacobs recently overcame an illness he struggled with against the Bengals, but was plagued with a calf strain heading into Arizona.

“Yeah, I would say from an offensive standpoint, it was a very frustrating day overall in regards to—they did a hell of a job of keeping an umbrella on the defense. There weren’t many looks where we could throw the ball down the field. It was one of those ‘dink and dunk’ type games. Not that we didn’t get a couple shots downfield, but they were playing pretty soft and took a lot of things that we wanted to do or that we saw on tape away. (They) tried to make us play perfect, which we were far from perfect so give credit to them,” said LaFleur. 

Jacobs rushed for 55 yards on 13 carries and 2 touchdowns against the Cardinals. 

“Some of those looks weren't the greatest to run into, but he just finds a way. That's what great players do. It's not always the cleanest of looks, but they find a way to get it done. I would classify Josh Jacobs as a great player,” said LaFleur. 

Love also said that LaFleur’s confidence in his offense is what allowed them to get ahead in the second half after struggling for the first two quarters. 

“Obviously, I think for (head coach) Matt (LaFleur) to decide to go for that right there in that situation, to have that confidence in the offense for us to go make a play and then for us to go out there and do it — that's one of those decisions that it's going to suck if we don't get it, but when you do it pays off like that. Then we go out there and get the win. It was a big time play by 'Tuck' (Tucker Kraft) to go out there and get that and then obviously to finish off with the touchdown was huge,” said Love. 

Love said that LaFleur had a lot of pressure to make the decision regarding the game-winning drive and ultimately, his confidence in Love and the offense made the difference. 

“No, it was quick. I could see us deciding what we were going to do on the sideline and they sent the kick team out. We were still thinking about it and Matt ultimately decided that we're going to go for it, so we called that time out. That's really just all Matt having that confidence in us,” said Love. “It’s a tough one. You’re sitting there and  thinking about what the situation is. Obviously, three points ties it up but you sit there and you're like, 'Man, there’s a lot of time left.' You’d hate for them to just need to go down there and kick a field goal for the win with that much time and that many timeouts. It’s a tough decision and you don’t have a lot of time to sit there and think about it. At the end of the day, I’m glad that Matt made that decision to go with the offense and we went out and executed.”

The Packers will travel to Pittsburgh, Penn. for their next game on Sunday, Oct. 26, against former quarterback Aaron Rodgers.