GREEN BAY Chuma Edoga Jersey , Wis. (AP) — Matt LaFleur is trying to downplay the past.At least a little bit.“I wanted to make it about these guys,” LaFleur said following Tuesday’s minicamp practice.“When you come to the Green Bay Packers, obviously, you respect the tradition, the history, but, for us and this football team, it’s about making history.“We’ll always pay credit and respect to what’s been done here in the past, but it’s moving forward. And the expectation level is always going to be great in this organization, as it should be, and that’s really the vibe and what I want our guys to focus on.”After eight consecutive playoff berths Trevon Wesco Jersey , the Packers have fallen short of the postseason the past two seasons. After winning two MVP awards and challenging for a third in 2016 while propelling the team to the NFC championship game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has struggled by his stellar standards.LaFleur has been busy putting his fingerprint on the team. It’s been small but noticeable things, such as painting the hallways and meeting rooms a bright white.“There was a lot of paint involved,” LaFleur joked.And it’s been big things, such as conducting a pre-draft minicamp and teaching a new offensive system.Tuesday’s practice was the first time the team hit the practice field since December.Only a fraction of the playbook has been installed, but Rodgers likes all the big plays he’s seen on video.“I think what every coach will do in this situation — and it happens whether you’re putting in new plays with the same system or when it’s wholesale changes — the clips that we’re seeing of this offense are big plays,” Rodgers said.“They’re showing us these plays and Julio (Jones is) running 80 for a touchdown or hitting Santana Moss or DeSean Jackson for big plays. Those are exciting. You look at those and go, ‘Man, this offense is incredible.’ It’s obviously cherry-picked to look as good as possible. The plays look great on the film. It’s going to be incorporating them with the guys that we have and finding who those guys are who run those plays best and putting our best players in position to make an impact in the game.”Rodgers was in a playful mood, fielding questions about “Game of Thrones” and the Milwaukee Bucks — the NBA team for which he is a minority owner. After two difficult seasons for the Packers, LaFleur wants to make things fun again.“I think when you really sit down and think about it, whether you’re coaching in this league or whether you’re playing in this league Shareef Miller Jersey , you’ve got to feel pretty fortunate that you’re in the position that you’re in,” LaFleur said.“So why not go to work every day and have fun with it? It does not need to be an uptight environment. We can certainly come in, get our work done, and have a ball doing it. Because at the end of the day, it’s about guys playing football, you know? It’s still playing. So, we want to have a blast each and every day.”Rodgers compared learning LaFleur’s offense to learning a new language. So, it seems, is LaFleur’s approach to the team’s rich history.“I think the great thing about Matt is it’s been very clear messaging,” Rodgers said. “He’s been great in front of the room. It’s a forward focus. It’s about building today for a better tomorrow. He’s done a great job of talking about how the most important thing is us moving forward together and having a deference and appreciation for the past.“But, you know, it’s not like we haven’t won a Super Bowl in a while Zach Brown Jersey , so that’s the goal, and it’s about doing things with this team right now. I mean, it’s Green Bay. The history and tradition of excellence so nobody has a problem with the past or bashing the past or offending anybody from the past. But we want to do something special moving forward.” LAS VEGAS (AP) — Football fans in three states legally bet almost $185.5 million on the Super Bowl this year, with sportsbooks ending Sunday with mixed results and Nevada operators seeing the first drop in the total amount wagered on the game since 2015.The game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams was the first major professional sporting event to be posted on the boards of sportsbooks outside Nevada. All opened after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a federal ban on wagering on sports last year.Figures released Monday by gambling regulators in Nevada show people wagered $145.94 million at the state’s 200 sportsbooks, $12.65 million less than in 2018. Sportsbooks operators in New Jersey accepted about $34.9 million in wagers and lost money, while in Mississippi, fans bet around $4.67 million at non-tribal casinos.“I would characterize it as a solid day. It wasn’t a bad day or a great day; it was right in the middle,” said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports book operations at Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.Nevada’s effective monopoly on sports betting ended last spring, when the Supreme Court ruled the ban should be lifted. Casinos in seven other states — Rhode Island, Delaware, Mississippi Devin Bush Jersey , New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Mexico — now accept wagers on sports. The list is expected to grow by next year.New Jersey gambling regulators said sportsbooks lost $4.6 million when they paid $39.5 million to those who won bets. Many gamblers backed the Patriots, who beat the Rams 13-3 and covered the spread of 2 1/2 points.Super Bowl Sunday “was by far our biggest day ever in New Jersey in terms of handle,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, which runs sportsbooks at two casinos and a racetrack in New Jersey as well as dozens of sportsbooks in Nevada. “It was really good.”He said William Hill’s take for the day “was pretty much break even win/loss. We couldn’t be more pleased overall — the retail locations were strong, especially the Ocean Resort Casino, which had an unbelievable crowd.”DraftKings, which runs mobile wagering in New Jersey along with an in-person lounge at Resorts casino, also set a new record for the amount wagered. Spokesman James Chisholm said the company paid out about $11 million in winning bets to customers, “and took a small Diontae Johnson Jersey , barely seven-figure loss.”The Westgate lost on the game itself, but did well on proposition bets — wagers on unique and various outcomes offered starting a few days ahead of the game — and on futures bets, which allow gamblers to wager on outcomes way in advance. Some bettors picked the Rams to win the title at the start of the season, for example, and lost their bet on Sunday.But one particular proposition bet had operators sweating. The Westgate and William Hill offered 500-1 and 300-1 odds respectively on no team scoring a touchdown.The game’s lone touchdown happened with seven minutes left on the fourth quarter.“We would have been carried off on a stretcher if it hit,” Asher said of the proposition bet.
