Following his one-week team-imposed suspension, Green Bay Packers All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander spoke to the media for the first time on Wednesday.
The Packers made the decision to suspend Alexander following the Panthers game—a move that even “surprised” him. Alexander thought he was only going to get fined. Although not a captain in that contest, Alexander crashed the party and made his way out to midfield for the coin toss.
While this pre-game decision by Alexander garnered all the attention, Matt LaFleur would say that it’s never just one thing that leads to a result like a suspension.
Unlike in many of his previous interviews, some of which have included sunglasses and a championship wrestling belt, Alexander was more serious this time.
“I think it was definitely something to learn from,” said Alexander. “There was definitely things I could have improved upon during that week to help with the communication. Moving forward that won’t happen again.”
Along with Alexander learning something from this situation, the opportunity to learn is there for LaFleur as well—something he has acknowledged. While ultimately it was Alexander’s actions in Carolina that led to the suspension, there was a disconnect along the way between the two that led to this outcome.
LaFleur and Alexander spoke last week once the decision to suspend him was made and again this past Monday. As Alexander put it, they got down to the “nitty gritty,” adding that it was good for both sides to hear the others’ perspective. Moving forward, communication is going to be a key priority to ensure everyone stays on the same page.
“Just communicating,” said Alexander. “I think communication is big. It’s easy to talk to my guys and talking to anybody else would be a little bit of a challenge. So I’ve got to be better at that.”
Without Alexander this past Sunday in Minnesota, the Packers’ secondary faced the difficult task of having to slow Justin Jefferson and the rest of the Minnesota receivers. On paper, it was a matchup that didn’t favor Green Bay whatsoever, but one that the Packers were able to win.
Jefferson was held to just 59 receiving yards the entire game on 10 targets. Jordan Addison had only 28 yards, while KJ Osborn didn’t even log a reception. The Green Bay pass rush, which pressured the Vikings’ quarterbacks on 50 percent of their dropbacks played a key role, but credit to Corey Ballentine and Carrington Valentine for their performances. Combined, the two allowed just six receptions on 15 targets for 65 yards with two forced incompletions by Ballentine and an interception.
Alexander stayed in contact with the cornerback room throughout the week and sent them some congratulatory texts post game for their performances.
“Initially I was very upset,” said Alexander about not being able to be on the field. “But when my guys went out there and did what they did, I couldn’t be too mad. I was pretty happy. I sic my young boys on them and I didn’t have to move a muscle.”
Alexander was back at practice on Wednesday, still on the injury report dealing with the same shoulder injury he suffered in Week 9 against Los Angeles, but this time, he was a full participant.
When asked, LaFleur didn’t get into specifics around Alexander’s availability for Sunday’s game or what his role would be. However, Alexander mentioned that his shoulder “should be good.”
From the outside looking in, we aren’t going to recognize any changes with Alexander, LaFleur, or anyone else have made—other than Alexander’s interviews being a “little more serious,” as he put it. The next step is that the actions from both parties moving forward backup what we’ve heard said in these interviews, and that may take some time, but they appear to be on the right path.
“It doesn’t affect my relationship with anybody,” said Alexander of the suspension. “If anything, it improved it.”
Heading into a win-and-in playoff-like scenario in Week 18 against a surging Bears team, Alexander is happy to be back on the practice field and “very grateful” to be in Green Bay.
“Just keeping doing what I’m doing,” said Alexander of what the team expects from him, “and no setbacks.”
