Jacksonville - 27 Green Bay - 30
MATT LaFLEUR: Obviously, really proud of our guys. Just, I mean, it wasn't our cleanest game, I would say, but I thought just the ability to find a way to get it done and ultimately, that's what it's all about. I think it's always tough to go on the road and win in this league, and our guys, we had multiple guys step up and have to go into the game that maybe not necessarily were planning on going into the game.
I thought our coaching staff did a nice job making adjustments. Ultimately, the players themselves going in and making the plays necessary to get the "W," give Jacksonville a lot of credit. We knew this was going to be a good battle. There's too many good players over there, too many good coaches. They've lost three games now, four under five points.
I'm just really happy with our -- the effort of our group, the resiliency of our group. It's tough to do when the momentum's swinging one way, and it's a crazy phenomenon. But the ability to go in there at the end of the game and make a humongous play to Jayden Reed there. Got to give our guys a lot of credit, the guys up front blocking for him, Tucker Kraft coming around, Jayden Reed making the play.
To be able to win on a walk-off two weeks in a row is kind of crazy. I don't want it to continue to happen that way. I'd like to win outright because it's taken years off our lives. But, no, just really happy for our guys.
Q. Do you have any idea of the significance of Jordan's injury?
MATT LaFLEUR: I do not. No idea. But, obviously, high level of concern any time a guy's in there. He did it early in that first drive. I think you guys, I think everybody could see him struggling to move around. It got to a point where we didn't feel like and he didn't feel like he could protect himself.
So we went with Malik, and can't say enough great things about Malik Willis. The job that he's able to do to go in there. You know, the moment's never too big for him, and he made a lot of big-time plays in this game, not only with his arm but with his ability to -- had a big pickup with his legs. Just really proud of our guys.
Q. Matt, it's one thing to do it with a week's -- not that it's easy, but he had a week work of practice each of the previous two starts. To do it like this, what did you and Tom -- looked like you were talking to him before he went out. What were you talking about?
MATT LaFLEUR: Just kind of going through the plays he's most comfortable with. It's always hard when you turn to your backup quarterback because all of their reps are in practice, running the scout team. And so he didn't get any reps with the plan. You know, Sean Mannion, Connor Lewis do a great job staying with him post-practice to work on getting reps. But there's nothing like going out there and doing the real thing. And I thought he played as well as we could ever expect him to. I thought he did a really nice job.
Q. Was that last play a canned?
MATT LaFLEUR: Yes, it was. Well done, Pete. I'm impressed. Very well done.
Q. What do you think of him having the confidence to do that in such a crucial --
MATT LaFLEUR: Not only was it a canned play, but it was a play we didn't have up in the game plan. We talked about it on Tuesday. We thought there my be something there, decided against it.
And then, you know, we ran the keeper earlier in the game, and Vrable suggested it. He's like, hey, looks like the play is there. And so we put it in on the sideline. So no reps in practice. I think that's a big-time credit to our guys to be able to go out there and execute it. Jayden Reed, Tucker, the O-line, the backs, everybody's selling it. And then, ultimately, Malik making the throw. So that was a pretty cool one. Probably one I'll never forget.
Q. Do you recall what you were thinking as he was doing that?
MATT LaFLEUR: Yeah, I was just looking for the rotation. Rotation came down. We ran the -- it was the exact same play, essentially, two plays in a row, where we didn't get the look. They brought a nickel pressure on the first play. Didn't get the look for it. And then the second play, they showed strong rotation. Got the look, and the rest is history.
But I'm so impressed by you, Pete. Really impressed. Great job.
Q. Do you think you surprised them with taking the shot like that --
MATT LaFLEUR: Rob, are you jealous?
Q. Well, you don't need to make him --
MATT LaFLEUR: I mean, yeah, it's a great job. Good job. You should be proud of him.
Q. Do you think you surprised them with the shot downfield just because of all the runs and the other plays that had been --
MATT LaFLEUR: I'm sure. I'm sure they're thinking, like, what the heck are these guys doing? They're going to play for overtime. I was just hoping there was going to be strong rotation. Had a pretty good idea, with the amount of single safety they were playing throughout the course of the game, that there was a chance we could get it. And we got it.
Q. I don't think Chris Brooks has ever scored a touchdown in his career. Was there a thought of letting him score it?
MATT LaFLEUR: He's a selfless guy. He does what we ask him to do. We told him in the situation that it was -- we call it a Rolex situation. So no matter what, you know, that you're going down. The clock's got to run. Obviously playing for the field goal right there. And he did a good job of executing and not scoring.
He'll get his time. I'm confident of that. I think Chris Brooks has been a huge asset to our team, a great pickup. Got to give Gute and his group a ton of credit for that one to be able to identify that guy, and I know Campanile was super fired up when we brought him in. He was with him last year in Miami. And just said a ton of great things about the guy, and it's been -- it's holding true, and, you know, he's starting to get more and more time on offense. He's obviously contributed on we-fense and just lucky to have a guy like this.
Q. At the risk of sounding like Willie here, maybe Pete can tell me what Edgerrin Cooper was doing on the coverage downfield. Was that pretty impressive?
MATT LaFLEUR: Yeah, absolutely. I think we were in Tampa 2 right there. It's just a mike run-through and the mike is responsible for taking the middle run through. It looked like they were going to get a big-time completion. I think that was third down, if I'm not mistaken. I didn't see it -- I saw it live. It happened right in front of me. I just saw the ball come out.
Sounded like from the guys upstairs that he might have punched the ball out. I sure as heck hope Christian Kirk is all right. That looked like a really hard fall. Obviously concerned about him.
Q. What did you think of the defense today as a whole?
MATT LaFLEUR: I'll be honest with you. The amount of time that I was spending with the offense and trying to make a lot of adjustments, I just kind of saw the results. So, I mean, like I said, I think that's a good football team. They've got a lot of playmakers. They've got three, I think, really good receivers. They've got a stud running back a stud quarterback and a stud tight end. So we knew they were going to get their shots in. It was just about staying resilient.
Obviously, the sequence, when we had the sack fumble and the recovery on the 5-yard line or whatever it was and our ability to go in and score, you can argue that was the difference in the game. Twice our defense set us up with great field position, and we were able to capitalize. I believe the other one, did we get a field goal out of? Yeah, so we got ten points off those two takeaways.
Q. I think 14.
MATT LaFLEUR: Was it 14? Sorry. My brain is all over the place.
Q. I know you guys say no block, no lock. Christian hadn't gotten a ton of targets. What did you think of what he did today and the block he had?
MATT LaFLEUR: I think Christian Watson always does a great job. He's always there for us. We want to obviously get him involved. I think there was a couple opportunities. We're going to look back and wish the ball maybe had gone to another place especially when, you know, they lost a corner.
But that's football. You can't always pick where it's going to go, and our quarterbacks are trained a certain way. We probably didn't communicate as well as we should have as a staff -- myself, I'm blaming -- to let them know when that happened, hey, let's try to take advantage of this. That's why the ball didn't go there. I've got to do a better job with that.
Q. Overall, what do you make of what Willis has done for three games now?
MATT LaFLEUR: It's been pretty damn impressive so that's -- impressive is the word.
Q. Josh Jacobs, when Jordan went out of the game, what do you make of his play?
MATT LaFLEUR: Oh, he's a stud, isn't he? The physicality that he runs with. He looked a little gimpy at the end of the game right there and still wanted to stay in. But I just thought it was best to get him out and get him checked out.
But, yeah, he's just a pro's pro. I can't say enough about him. We're lucky to have a guy like that. The way he comes in and communicates and works and demands it of himself and demands it of others as well.
Thanks, guys have a great night.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports