National Sports

LaFleur brothers head teams at Packers-Cards joint practice

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur had his tongue firmly planted in cheek as he discussed how he would make sure his players avoid fights in their joint practice with the Arizona Cardinals.

“If there’s an issue, I’m going to tell the guys, ‘Hey, you come tag me in. They can tag in my brother. And we’ll throw down on the 50,'” LaFleur joked on Monday.

Wednesday’s joint practice at Green Bay was set to mark the first time the LaFleur brothers have coached against each other since Mike LaFleur was hired as the Cardinals’ coach. They’ll also meet Friday in a preseason game at Lambeau Field.

Matt LaFleur was asked about his parents’ potential divided loyalties this week.

“They’ll probably look like a Christmas tree -- green and red,” he said.

The LaFleurs have been on opposing sidelines plenty of times, including when the New York Jets had joint practices with the Packers at Green Bay in 2021. Mike LaFleur was an offensive coordinator with the Jets from 2021-22 and Los Angeles Rams from 2023-25.

Now, they’re both head coaches.

Mike LaFleur said the desire to have a joint practice in Green Bay wasn’t necessarily because of the family ties. He just wanted cooler weather than the Cardinals get in Arizona.

“If we could have gone to Seattle to go against them, that would be great,” he said. “Well, they’re in our division, so we’re not going to Seattle. There’s no team in Canada yet. And you’d rather not go all the way out to Buffalo, just from a travel standpoint. So you think about that next closest team to get you out of the heat, it really is Green Bay.”

The 39-year-old Mike LaFleur said he also spoke with the Minnesota Vikings shortly after Arizona hired him, but they already had scheduled their joint practices.