Packers cancel Thursday practice, look for ways to make societal change

August 27, 2020
|In Packers
|By Zach Heilprin

The Green By Packers were scheduled to practice Thursday morning but that didn’t happen.

The session that was set to get underway at 10:30 a.m. was postponed and eventually canceled by coach Matt LaFleur following an extensive team meeting to discuss ways they can make an impact in changing society in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting by Kenosha police earlier this week.

“Not one guy said that they didn’t want to practice today. That didn’t even come up,” LaFleur told reporters. “It was more or less we were having some really long conversations. I think when you feel that emotion in that room it’s hard to focus on football. It is emotionally draining for everybody in that room. I made the decision that, hey, we’re not going to go today. I just didn’t think it was right and we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow when we reconvene.”

The decision came as six other NFL teams also either canceled or postponed practices. That followed the Milwaukee Bucks decision, and eventually the entire NBA, to not take part in playoff games Wednesday. Six MLB teams also postponed their games, including in Milwaukee with the Brewers.

Bucks’ players spent nearly three hours in the locker room reaching out to Wisconsin officials, including Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes and Attorney General Josh Kaul, in an effort to let them know what they wanted. In a statement read by Sterling Brown and George Hill, the team called for the state legislature to reconvene and “address issues of police accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform.”

The Packers are still formulating their next actions.

“I think it’s no different than when you approach a game,” LaFleur said. “You have to put your plan together before you go play a game. You just don’t go wing it. That’s why I always want to be very cautious about divulging too much. We are in the process of putting our plan together and hopefully we can go out and execute that plan and see some significant changes in our society.”

Following the Packers announcement, a number of players took to social media to express their feelings. That included wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling and safety Adrian Amos.

“What’s so great about our sport and the essence of team is you’ve got a bunch of people from different backgrounds coming together in pursuit of a common goal,” LaFleur said. “If our society could emulate that, or could see how we operate as a team, our world would be a much better place.”