Packers HC Matt LaFleur Postgame Transcript 11/8
PACKERS HEAD COACH MATT LAFLEUR
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
November 8, 2026
ML: That was a total team victory right there in terms of offensively, defensively and special teams. I thought each phase contributed in a large way. The four takeaways were critical. Trey Smack going in there doing his thing. Daniel Whelan doing his thing. And I can’t say enough about just the play of Jordan Love. Makes my job a helluva lot easier. It was great to kind of get the run game in a better direction. I still think we’re far from the finished product, but to get over 100 yards rushing against a pretty stout defense, I thought was pretty good.
Q: Jordan [Love] playing like an MVP candidate, you think?
ML: What do you think, man?
Q: I think yes.
ML: I would agree with that. I can’t — I mean, just because he’s standing in there, he’s taking hits, and he’s still dealing the ball. Don’t get me wrong, those guys are making phenomenal plays. I’m talking about MG [Matthew Golden], Christian [Watson] obviously, they had big nights. Savion Williams going in there and making some big time catches. That touchdown catch was spectacular. So, all those guys collectively are just doing a great job.
Q: A lot of teams don’t throw at Christian Gonzalez. What gives you guys the faith to go at your guys all game like that?
ML: I wouldn’t say we went at him all game, but it was more just attacking the coverages more so than an individual. I think Christian is one of the best corners in this league. It just — we didn’t know exactly where he was going to be, whether he was going to be on the boundary, whether he was going to travel with Christian or MG. So, you’re just dialing up the plays you feel most confident being successful in, and when you’ve got a quarterback playing the way that Jordan Love is playing, you’re just dialing up the plays.
Q: What are you thinking when you see him keep dropping those downfield throws and they’re right on the money? As a play caller, what do you –
ML: Keep calling it. I can’t say enough about it. Those are low percentage throws in theory, but he’s making them look high percentage. They’re right on the money, and our guys are making — they’re doing a great job. There were multiple times right on the sideline where there’s these bang-bang plays, and these guys are coming down with it. Those guys were doing a helluva job.
Q: Matt, talk about the running game. You went over 100 yards today. I know you love to run the football and set up the rest of your offense. How important was it for you guys to get to that 100-yard number today and see some progress in the run game?
ML: Yeah, I thought it was big. I thought it was big time. I thought all those guys going in — especially losing Josh [Jacobs]. That’s a tough loss right there. For Pierre [Strong Jr.] and Kaleb [Johnson] to step up and go in there — and Kaleb ripped off a couple of explosive plays, he scored his first touchdown, that was huge.
Q: What was [Josh] Jacobs’ injury?
ML: He fractured a finger. Hopefully, we can do something to allow him to go out there, but he was just having a hard time gripping the ball.
Q: You get four takeaways from your defense, 4 sacks. How good can this defense be when you get Micah [Parsons] back?
ML: Yeah, that’s a great question, but I will say it’s a week-to-week league, and we’ve got to keep on stacking those performances. There were some things that we absolutely have to improve upon, but I thought all in all our defense was flying around, making plays. Can’t say enough about JG [Jonathan Gannon] just dialing up stuff and getting pressure on the quarterback, and the guys up front wreaking havoc and getting to the quarterback. That was a big thing going into this game, and it allows our guys on the back end to make plays.
Q: What do you do to make this more than just a one-off?
ML: That’s a great question. I don’t know, you tell me.
Q: (inaudible)
ML: You’re right, it’s one game, and we’ve got to go out, and we’ve got a great team coming into our house, a team that’s leading the NFC North. We’ve got to string together another great performance in order to get a win.
Q: The first quarter with the slant play touchdown, the play before that is Jacobs running a set, and it looked like you had that action in that play. In other words, it seemed like there was a couple times where the play action was working for you better today, right?
ML: It certainly was. We knew that going into the game that that was going to be a key. The one that MG walked in on, that was an all out pressure look. The quarterback recognized the look, got to the check, and the guys made it come to life. We had a great protection. That’s always harder when they’re bringing a zero blitz. But they went out there and executed the play.
Q: You mentioned the performance of the defense and the job that Jonathan Gannon has done. What did you see from [Drake] Maye that enabled you guys to be so aggressive in terms of your front seven and the secondary?
ML: He’s a really good quarterback, and he’s — we knew going into the game that one of the keys was to not let him get loose and use his legs. That put a lot of onus on the guys up front, just rushing sound and not letting him out of the pocket. I thought for the most part today we did a pretty good job of that.
Q: Did you hear the MVP chants? What did you think of them?
ML: I did not. I don’t hear anything out there. I’m just trying to figure out what to call next.
Q: Speaking of that, after the [Isaiah] McDuffie fumble recovery, you go right to the shot to Watson. Is that almost a message you’re sending to your guys, like we’re not taking our foot off the gas?
ML: I think that against a really good team like this, you can’t take your foot off the gas. In fact, I was a little hesitant to pull our guys as early as we did because I remember we did that a few years ago in Dallas, and I was having flashbacks there for a second. If they would have got the 2-point, we were probably putting our guys in there to make it a two-possession game. I thought with getting the stop on the 2-point play and it was three possessions, it was the right thing to do to rest most of our starters.
Q: Do you remember the days when we were in here asking you about Jordan and the deep throws, missing them?
ML: Oh, yeah.
Q: What do you make of where he is now?
ML: He’s doing a great job, man. I can’t say enough great things about him. You know what’s even better about him is just how he is on a daily basis, just coming in, working with him. He is the same guy every day, whether it’s a great performance like he’s been doing consistently, or — he’s just the same guy. He’s the same guy that we got when we drafted him. I think that’s a big time credit, and I don’t want that to get overlooked.
Q: What did Trey show you after how the last couple weeks have gone?
ML: It was big time. Go in there — we saw it in practice quite honestly. I thought Cam [Achord] did a great job of just kind of evaluating everything. We switched some things up in terms of his approach, and he was attacking the football all week in practice, and he was crushing it. So I think that was just a reflection of his practice performance.
Q: It seemed like you had a lot of production, stacked formations as the game wore on. Is that just the way the game played out or something you saw in the week of preparation?
ML: Are you talking offensively?
Q: Yeah, offensively.
ML: Condensed formations, yeah, we kind of live in that world for the most part. But yeah, we were just dialing up stuff that we thought could attack coverage.
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