Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is hoping to soon get a better feel for who’s who on his team as they host the New Orleans Saints in a pair of joint practices before facing them in this week’s preseason game.
“They’re all big [for evaluation purposes], but certainly going against a team that we got a lot of respect for,” LaFleur told SI.com this week as the Packers prepped for their Friday battle against the Saints. “They put it on us pretty good last year and that’s a talented roster, so it’ll be a great test to see kind of where we stand.”
If their Aug. 12 preseason-opening loss to San Francisco was any indication, LaFleur and company have plenty of improvements to make before starting the regular season early next month.
With a high number of new players and all their top players on the sidelines, the team experienced plenty of ups and downs—including backup quarterback Jordan Love mixing in a slew of impressive plays with three interceptions, two of which were described as being the fault of his receivers. Players who turned in solid performances included Amari Rodgers, TJ Slaton, Danny Davis and Joe Runyan.
All the team’s top players are again expected to be held out against the Saints, with LaFleur vowing the focus will be on cleaning up the mistakes they made in their opener; the SI report said.
