(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Earlier in the week, New England Patriots’ new coach Jerod Mayo made the rounds for his interesting policy regarding fights in practice.
With joint practices often leading to physical altercations and being a big headache for players and coaches alike, he came up with a rather innovative way to punish the players who got tangled up in fights.
Mayo claimed that the starters who got into scuffles would then play for an entire preseason game, whereas backups who got into fights wouldn’t play at all.
With that in mind, Green Bay Packers HC Matt LaFleur revealed that he had been doing the same thing since he took over (via 93.7 The Game Milwaukee).
#Packers HC Matt LaFleur says they have a similar philosophy to Jerod Mayo regarding fights during joint practices
“That’s kinda how we’ve operated around here for a couple years.” https://t.co/VsX6w59SKe pic.twitter.com/4KuMJzpMLn
— 97.3 The Game (@TheGameMKE) August 14, 2024
Per LaFleur, practice is the right time to get the job done, so if you’re not working, you’re not playing.
Starters rarely want to play in the preseason, knowing that they’re putting their bodies at risk for nothing.
They don’t want to risk injury and not being out there for when it actually counts, so playing every snap in a preseason game is a rather cruel, yet effective punishment.
As for backups, they’re obviously trying to make their way in the league and prove that they can also contribute, so not getting those snaps could pretty much doom their chances.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem like the league is going to get rid of joint practices in the foreseeable future, if ever, so the players might as well behave like adults and professionals.
The post Matt LaFleur Says He Has Similar Fight Policy To Jerod Mayo appeared first on The Cold Wire.