LaFleur has made big 衝撃 in 1st year as Packers coach
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - What a year it has been for Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur.
Thursday 示すs 正確に／まさに one year since LaFleur was introduced as the 15th 長，率いる coach in franchise history.
"That was already a year ago?" LaFleur said on Wednesday.
After winning more games (13) than any other Packers coach in their first year, LaFleur will lead Green Bay against the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday's divisional プレーオフ game at Lambeau Field.
"It's been a 急速な／放蕩な year, there's no 疑問 about it," the 40-year-old LaFleur said. "When I think 支援する at it, I really 港／避難所't given much thought to it to be truthful. Somebody について言及するd it to me yesterday, and I was like, `I guess that was a year ago.´ The time has flown by. We've done a lot over the last year and it's been a really fun 過程."
の中で the first words Packers 大統領，／社長 and CEO 示す Murphy said during LaFleur's introductory news 会議／協議会 on Jan. 9, 2019, were "I believe we 設立する a 広大な／多数の／重要な fit for the organization and this community."
Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur is seen during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/マイク Roemer)
So far, so good.
マイク Holmgren and マイク Sherman each won nine games in their first seasons in Green Bay. That was a franchise 記録，記録的な／記録する. LaFleur 粉々にするd that and became the first coach in team history to lead the Packers to a 分割 肩書を与える in his first season and has Green Bay 支援する in the プレーオフs for the first time since 2016. LaFleur is the first coach in franchise history to lead the Packers to the postseason in his first season.
"I think the best teams are player-led teams, and I think he's 許すd the players to take 所有権 of important parts of the squad," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said of LaFleur.
"The biggest thing is the leadership part, letting guys 肉親，親類d of be themselves. From the start, it was a 限られた／立憲的な 量 of 支配するs and very simplistic approach. 'Be a professional, be on time, be 用意が出来ている, don't make excuses, make it about the team, be the best 見解／翻訳／版 of yourself in the locker room, embrace your 役割 and make the most of it.' I think it's 許すd guys to make the 決定／判定勝ち（する） to buy in every day."
Rodgers 設立する out LaFleur was going to be his next 長，率いる coach, only the second of his 15-year NFL career, while ゴルフing. The two-time 最高殊勲選手 remembers coincidentally shanking a 運動 on the sixth 穴を開ける after he and LaFleur spoke.
"I enjoyed our conversation," Rodgers said. "I wasn't sure how far along the 過程 was but I was 肉親，親類d of told 権利 after, when I was talking to (general 経営者／支配人) Brian (Gutekunst), that that's who they 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go with.
"It was exciting. 明白に change is always difficult. I think you have to embrace it and 焦点（を合わせる） on the 肯定的なs, and there were a lot of 肯定的なs with Matt 権利 away."
LaFleur spent 10 seasons in the NFL before 上陸 in Green Bay, first as an 不快な／攻撃 assistant, then as a quarterbacks coach and finally an 不快な／攻撃 調整者／コーディネーター. LaFleur said it was in Atlanta, under coach Dan Quinn, where he learned how to 準備する for the postseason.
"Every game, from the 正規の／正選手 season to the プレーオフs, every game was a 選手権 mindset," LaFleur said. "That's the same approach that we've taken with our football team here."
LaFleur was the quarterbacks coach for the Falcons in 2015 and 2016, when he helped guide Matt Ryan to an 最高殊勲選手 season and a 寝台／地位 in the 最高の Bowl. There seasons later, LaFleur will go 長，率いる to 長，率いる on Sunday with a coach in Seattle's Pete Carroll who has 現実に won one. Carroll is 28 years older than LaFleur.
"He's still doing it," LaFleur said of the 68-year-old coach. "I tell you what, he's got a lot energy too. He's done it for so long at such a high level. I've got a lot of 尊敬（する）・点 and 賞賛 for him, just what he's been able to 遂行する throughout the course of his career."
新人 NFL 長，率いる coaches are 26-25 all time in their プレーオフ debuts. Only two of them - Don McCafferty (1971 Colts) and George Seifert (1989 49ers) - 現実に won the 最高の Bowl. 関わりなく how the season ends for the Packers, LaFleur has changed the culture in Green Bay.
"It's been an exciting year," Rodgers said. "It's funny, life in general, how much can change in a year. You think about the feeling of the organization and 失望 and everybody really 存在 gone. Now, we're here. There's eight teams left in the プレーオフs. I think there's a different 感情 about the squad and which way our arrow is pointing and the excitement that the プレーオフs brings to the organization, the area and the 地域."
___
Follow Keith Jenkins on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrKeithJenkins
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur is seen during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington R edskins Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/マイク Roemer)
FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019 とじ込み／提出する photo, Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur watches during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York 巨大（な）s in East Rutherford, N.J. Matt LaFleur is 始める，決める to lead the Green Bay Packers against his former club, the Washington Redskins. LaFleur coached quarterbacks for Washington from 2010-13. LaFleur called the 任期 the "創立／基礎" of his NFL career. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, とじ込み／提出する)
Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur 会談 to Aaron Rodgers during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago 耐えるs Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/M ike Roemer)
Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur 会談 to Chandon Sullivan before an NFL football game against the Chicago 耐えるs Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/マイク Roemer)
Green Bay Packers 長，率いる coach Matt LaFleur 会談 to Preston Smith before an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/マイク Roemer)
