Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur called Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns “extremely disappointing” after his team blew a 10-point lead, had a field goal blocked with under 30 seconds to go and then watched the Browns’ game-winning 55-yard field goal fly through the uprights as time expired to cap off a 13-10 loss at Huntington Bank Stadium in Cleveland.
How does a superior team lose in such humbling fashion? Average 3.8 yards per play on offense, give up five sacks, commit a stunning 14 penalties, have a game-changing turnover up 10 points in the fourth quarter and allow a field goal to be blocked with the game on the line.
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LaFleur answered questions following the loss for roughly nine minutes.
Here is some of what LaFleur said:
On the loss: “That was extremely disappointing.” Thought the Packers played well enough on defense to win, but didn’t do enough on offense or special teams.
On penalties: “When you have 14 penalties in a game, that’s going to be tough to overcome that. We have to do a much better job coaching the fundamentals, the details, and we have to lock in at a high level in regards to the controllable penalties.”
On Love’s late interception: “Bad playcall. We shouldn’t have called that play. That’s on me…it’s just a bad playcall. What’s unfortunate was our defense was playing so well, and we knew we couldn’t make a deadly mistake like that to give them a short field, and that’s exactly what happened.”
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On pressure on Love: “It felt like, my perspective, that he was under duress for the majority of the game. We have to look at some of the things we’re asking our guys to do.”
On facing the Browns defense: “I have a lot of respect for Jim Schwartz. He was better than us today. Better than me specifically.”
On Zach Tom (who played one play) and Aaron Banks (who left with a groin injury): “We can’t allow that to happen. It’s disappointing when (Tom) plays one play. Banks, I don’t think that was the case. It was a different injury.”
On facing the Browns: “I knew going into this that it was going to be a dog fight, and it was going to be a challenge. What’s disappointing is you could argue we lost the game offensively by making a critical error in a critical situation. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Matt LaFleur speaks after Packers collapse late, lose to Browns
