In the aftermath of a season-ending loss to the Detroit Lions that included two game-changing penalties, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur will place improving the on-field discipline of his players near the top of his priority list going into the 2023 season.
“There’s going to be a huge emphasis, I would say, going into next season, about how we handle ourselves. Not only does it look bad, but it hurts the team. We can’t have it,” LaFleur said Monday following the Packers’ 20-16 loss to the Lions on Sunday night.
Veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas was penalized 15 yards for unncessary roughness after hitting an opponent, turning a long field goal into a short one before the half, and rookie linebacker Quay Walker was penalized and ejected for shoving a team trainer during the Lions’ go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
Untimely penalties and disciplinary problems plagued the Packers all season.
“Obviously, there’s been a lack of discipline, in terms of some of the stuff we’ve done out on the field that we can’t have,” LaFleur said.
The Packers had eight unnecessary roughness penalties, two disqualifications and one unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the 2022 season. Douglas alone committed a team-high eight penalties, including two of the unnecessary roughness penalties.
LaFleur said the only way to teach discipline is by emphasizing it daily.
“You stress it each and every day,” LaFleur said. “I trust that we have players that are intelligent enough to understand that, and can control themselves in the heat of the battle.”
LaFleur called Douglas’ penalty “unacceptable.” Like Walker’s disqualification, the infraction came after the whistle.
“Whistle to whistle. Keep it in fair play. The extra circular stuff cannot happen,” LaFleur said.
Walker was ejected for the second time this season when he shoved a non-player on the field. LaFleur said Walker was attempting to check in on D’Andre Swift, a former teammate at Georgia, and he reacted poorly as the trainer was attempting to get to Swift to provide care. Regardless of circumstance, making physical contact with medical personnel was an especially bad look in the days immediately following Damar Hamlin’s on-field emergency.
“This is a great lesson for everybody involved here. That will not be tolerated, No. 1, and that will never happen here again,” LaFleur said.
In October, Walker was ejected from a game in Buffalo when he shoved a non-uniformed player on the sideline after a play. The two incidents provide a pattern of behavior for a player LaFleur called “very young” and who has “growing up to do” as a professional football player.
“I don’t think Quay is a malicious person. I think he has to find a better way to channel his emotions in the heat of the battle. It’s gotten the better of him twice now.”
