strange Lane Taylor Color Rush Jersey , doesn’t it?The Green Bay Packers have their first new non-interim head coach since 2006, and if you’re still processing the hire, you’ve got plenty of company. Many members of the APC staff are still working through their own feelings on the decision, as you’ll read below.LaFleur will be formally introduced as the new Packers head coach this afternoon, but that new conference notwithstanding, we want to know the answer to a simple question: what’s your gut reaction to the LaFleur hire? Here are ours.Wendi Hansen: Shook (in the best possible way)I’m not going to lie, when the news first broke that the Packers had indeed hired LaFleur, my gut reaction was “LaFleur. LaFleur?! LaFleur. Huh.” I was sort of indifferent, a little nervous, nervous and did I mention nervous? I knew of him, of course. His prior work with greats like McVay and Shanahan preceded him, not to mention the fact that he was Matt Ryan’s QB coach the year he won MVP. That says something.The more I read and researched, the more my confidence grew. LaFleur is young, innovative, creative and has just enough gumption to both allow Rodgers to do his thang, but reign him in when necessary. No one knows how this hire will pan out, and his actions on the field and with these guys will ultimately speak louder than words, but I’m excited to see what this offseason will bring, and the growth that will incur in 2019. Welcome to Green Bay, LaFleur.Bob Fitch: WaryI’m not going to profess that I know very much about the offensive scheme that LeFleur runs; I went to a Titans game this year and they lost to the Bills by a point, looking pretty bad while they did it. Ranking close to last in a lot of major offensive metrics isn’t a good look, but neither is having your starting quarterback injured with nerve damage and having Blaine Gabbert throw 鈪?of your offense’s passes.Let’s not kid ourselves; Mike Pettine will handle the defense, and LeFleur was brought in to ‘fix’ Aaron Rodgers and the good-but-could-be-better offense.Being a part of successful offenses can certainly look good on a resume, but it’s impossible for any outsider to know exactly what impact LeFleur had on those offenses. With all that said, it’s hard not to get excited about a shakeup in Green Bay. After many years of sticking with the same regime and not achieving anything in recent years, a breakup was overdue and Green Bay has since rebounded with a trendy young name on the coaching market.The sticker is still shiny on our new toy, so it’s fun and exciting for now, but consider me cautious.Paul Noonan: Extremely skepticalThis fundamentally comes down to LaFleur’s ability to get along with and fix Aaron Rodgers, and not much else matters. That is fundamentally a personality question, and I won’t pretend to know whether or not he’s the right guy, but what we do know of LaFleur is troubling. By almost all accounts https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Kevin-King-Jersey , LaFleur hasn’t actually been in charge of any of the offense run by the various wunderkinder he’s been around. More troubling, Sean McVay did not have to let him go to Tennessee and did. More troubling, LaFleur was originally considered for the head coaching job for the Titans, was rejected, and came back for a lesser role. More troubling, the Rams improved without him, and the Titans were downright bad. More troubling, many of his past press conferences reference a desire for offensive balance. More troubling, he is retaining Mike Pettine, indicating to me he doesn’t have his own guys or vision.There are excuses for all of these things, including injuries to Marcus Mariota, and he’s been around a lot of success, but I like to see some tangible accomplishments in my head coaches, not just projectability. I don’t care for excuses, and when I hear one, I want it followed by “I learned from that, and succeeded in this way.” Hopefully, Gute and Murphy are excellent interviewers, but if this regime crashes and burns I won’t be a bit surprised. Jon Meerdink: Thoroughly whelmedIf there was a list of what “Packers internet” wanted in the next head coach, Matt LaFleur is probably very close to what the Head Coach Generator Bot 3000 would have spit out. He’s young, has an offensive background, as is connected to some of the brightest stars in the world of coaching.But after reflecting on the hire for a couple of days now, I don’t find myself particularly excited or put off by the hire. I think that’s because there’s nothing you can point at and say “Yes, that is the definable quality that makes Matt LaFleur a viable head coach candidate.” He has more than a few positive attributes (and nearly just as many possible red flags), but generally, it’s just a lot of pretty okay resume line items.That leaves me neither over- or underwhelmed by LaFleur, but also not angry, excited, or happy. Put me down as feeling very whelmed. I can’t muster much more feeling than that right now.Evan “Tex” Western: I want to believeI’m not 100% there yet on Matt LaFleur. I’ve made the case for him to myself several times in the past week or so, but I still find myself cautious because of one specific factor, despite being able to rationalize it.My main hangup is the fact that LaFleur has just a single year of play-calling experience Clay Matthews Jersey , and in that one season, his Titans offense finished 22nd in DVOA. This is very much unlike Mike McCarthy, who had a significant body of work as a play-caller before Ted Thompson hired him. However, it is similar in that McCarthy’s one-year stop in San Francisco the season before he came to Green Bay resulted in one of the worst offenses in the NFL.The rationalizations here are that the Titans lost their best receiving weapon (tight end Delanie Walker) for the season in week one and their starting quarterback, Marcus Mariota, was injured all season, missing two games and significant portions of three others. The other thing I see is that from some film breakdowns (thanks Dusty Evely), you see the types of creative route concepts and combinations that the Kyle Shanahans and Sean McVays of the world use — a welcome sight after Mike McCarthy’s slant/flat and iso routes on every passing play.I’m not worried about LaFleur’s personality meshing with Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has said that he wants to be coached and challenged, and it seemed that he was mentally checked out in 2018. If former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky — one of LaFleur’s former players — is to be believed, that’s exactly what LaFleur will do for Rodgers.I never really believed that the Packers needed someone to come in and establish dominance over Rodgers. I thought the best option was to find someone who could establish a genuine rapport and mutual respect with him and who could stimulate him as a quarterback, both in his mechanics and decision-making. The fact that LaFleur has a background as a quarterback himself can only help in that regard.Ultimately, the ability of LaFleur to mold his vision for the offense around the Packers’ talent — Rodgers in particular — will be the determining factor in whether the unit returns to elite status, which will, in turn, decide if the team as a whole is a contender again. I think LaFleur has the right background and temperament for that task, but my reservations about his experience will still concern me until proven wrong.Peter Bukowski: Surprised, but not shocked I have no idea if Matt LaFleur will be a good coach. And based on the enormous variations in reactions among national pundits — many of whom didn’t even bother to do baseline homework — neither do most people. To hire him this quickly amid reports Josh McDaniels was the frontrunner suggests a coach who blew Mark Murphy and Brian Gutekunst away in the interview process. That’s no guarantee of success. It’s fair to say most coaches who end up getting hired were impressive in their interviews, otherwise, they probably don’t get hired. This feels like the Mike Pettine hire to me. It wasn’t who I thought the best choice would be (Josh McDaniels is my Vic Fangio in this case), but the more I dig into LaFleur, the more I learn about his past and pedigree, the most impressive he becomes to me. And the reasons to pick him over McDaniels from a personality and risk standpoint should be obvious. APC’s Jason Hirschhorn made a point to me that has really resonated: the biggest risk the Packers could have taken was to not take one at all. Bruce Arians, Jim Caldwell, Chuck Pagano, we knew what the ceiling was with those coaches. The retention of Pettine makes this hire’s intent clear: bring the Packers offense into the 21st century, re-engage Rodgers and bring some creativity to the mix. LaFleur appears to be equipped to do that. GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — For a change, it was the Packers in a runaway.Aaron Jones ran for career highs of 145 yards and two scores, Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams connected for two touchdown passes and the Green Bay beat the Miami Dolphins 31-12 on Sunday.The Packers (4-4-1) pulled away in the second half, sandwiching scoring drives around cornerback Bashaud Breeland’s interception deep in Miami territory. Green Bay went ahead 28-12 on Adams’ 25-yard touchdown catch with 7:24 left in the third quarter.Article continues below ...“This league has always been about big plays,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “You can’t score points without big plays and you have to make big plays to win the game.”Maybe this is the victory that will get the Packers going in the tight NFC North race following a choppy first half of the season.Jason Sanders tied a Dolphins franchise rookie record with four field goals Blake Martinez Color Rush Jersey , but Miami (5-5) couldn’t find the end zone. The Dolphins squandered another opportunity on the game-opening drive after Brock Osweiler fumbled away a shotgun snap.The Packers cashed in on that turnover, too, when Rodgers and Adams connected on their first touchdown for a 7-0 lead.“We turned it over and we didn’t take advantage of opportunities,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said.His defense also had trouble slowing down Jones, who finished with 15 carries to give Green Bay some much-needed balance.A slashing style and an explosive burst through the hole make Jones a threat to bust a big run on any carry. He accounted for 54 yards of total offense on the opening drive alone.Jones added a career-long 67-yarder to give him 96 yards on four carries in the first quarter alone.“We got the run game going. We had a lot more balance, which we hadn’t had all season,” said Rodgers, who was 19 of 28 for 199 yards.Adams had four catches for 57 yards.BROCK STOPS HEREOsweiler was 23 of 37 for 213 yards in his fifth start for the injured Ryan Tannehill. Miami had 294 yards of total offense, an admirable effort given that they were missing three starting offensive linemen.But Osweiler was sacked six times, including three straight plays late in the fourth quarter.“Overall, I just need to be better and this organization deserves better because we left a lot on the table out there tonight,” Osweiler said.RECORD RUNA 9-yard run with about 3½ minutes left in the first quarter put Miami’s Frank Gore over the 500-yard mark for an NFL-record 14th straight season. He broke a tie with Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton.RUNNING AWAYJones said he had about 10 family members, including both of his parents, in the stands at Lambeau to watch his career night.“It means a lot. I didn’t tell anybody, but I made this game for my parents. So now I’ve got two touchdown balls to give to both of them,” he said. “It works out. It’s a blessing.”COSTLY KICKSanders booted a kickoff out of bounds after his fourth field goal to allow the Packers to start their next drive at the 40, which ended with a 10-yard touchdown run by Jones.UNDAUNTED DOLPHINSGase said the team believed they could win on Sunday despite so many injuries, not including the ones that happened during the game. Miami forced two turnovers on special teams, blocking a punt and forcing Tramon Williams to fumble on a return for good field position each time.“That field position, we didn’t take advantage of,” Gase said. “Those type of things, you can’t do against this guy (Rodgers). You do that, it’s just a matter of time before he makes it right.”QUOTABLE“It’s heartbreaking … and then you have a fire in my adopted home of southern California, so it’s been a tough week for sure, and myself and the guys from northern California, our thoughts and our prayers are with those folks.” — Rodgers, who was born in Chico, California, on the wildfires ravaging the state. He wore a dark blue cap from the Santa Monica Fire Department after the game.INJURIESDolphins: RB Kenyan Drake left with a knee injury in the second quarter. … WRs Davante Parker (shoulder) and Jakeem Grant (leg) left in the third quarter.Packers: A defense already missing CB Kevin King (hamstring) lost two more starters in the first half when S Kentrell Brice departed with an ankle injury and linebacker Nick Perry limped off with a knee injury. Brice (knee) and Perry (ankle) had been on the injury report last week for other ailments. … OL Lucas Patrick (concussion protocol) did not return after taking a hard hit while returning a short kickoff in the first quarter. … In the fourth quarter, Breeland left with a groin injury.UP NEXTDolphins: Have a bye next week before a trip to Indianapolis on Nov. 25.Packers: Visit the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday.