For the past couple of months, everything seemed to be going much better for the Green Bay Packers. Mike McCarthy was fired, Aaron Rodgers kind of chugged beers, and the franchise got one of the brightest young minds in the game in Matt LaFleur to be the new head coach. Better days were expected, and still are, but there has definitely been an unexpected setback.
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The 39-year-old LaFleur knew some challenges were ahead. After all, he had never been a head coach after being an NFL quarterbacks coach or offensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, and Tennessee Titans. He never saw this one coming, though.
According to Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver, the first-year coach suffered a torn Achilles' tendon "playing in a Knockout game on a Lambeau hoops court."
One significant piece of the Packers' new-look offense will be severely hobbled during the rest of the offseason and beyond: New coach Matt LaFleur suffered a torn Achilles' tendon playing in a Knockout game on a Lambeau hoops court Wednesday night and will have surgery Sunday...
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) May 31, 2019
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Serious, this actually happened. Of all the hiccups one could expect taking over a legendary NFL franchise, tearing your Achilles' tendon playing basketball would be one of the last things that would come to mind. And not just basketball, a game of freaking Knockout during OTAs.
The Packers will certainly improve under new head coach Matt LaFleur. He's a great play-caller and should help the offense make Green Bay a competitive force in the NFC. However, he's not going to be running up and down the sidelines anytime soon.
LaFleur will actually be coaching from a cart during OTAs and through the month of June, according to Silver.
Although this is a very painful injury, one you definitely don't want to see ever, the new Packers coach has to have some sigh of relief that it was his Achilles and not the one of the star players.
