GREEN BAY — Matt LaFleur is no dummy. Nor is he naïve about the challenges of managing playing time, opportunities and egos in an NFL locker room. 

So while the Green Bay Packers head coach and offensive play-caller was giddy about tight end Tucker Kraft’s field-tilting performance in Sunday night’s 35-25 win at Pittsburgh — with Kraft catching seven passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns on a team-high nine targets — he still believes there is a balancing act when it comes to dispensing opportunities in the Packers’ passing game.

And so, while LaFleur was so excited about Kraft’s production against the Steelers that the proclaimed, “We’d be crazy not to” build their passing game around Kraft, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be potential pitfalls among the other would-be pass catchers.

As much as LaFleur believes the Packers have the right type of all-for-one-and-one-for-all guys in their locker room who prioritize winning over personal accolades, he also lives in the real world, where players are competing for contract dollars and their football futures.

And although he gave no indication that there could be any hurt feelings or trouble brewing amid the Packers’ three-game winning streak, he emphasized the importance Monday of being dialed in on his team’s feelings and proactive about dealing with any frustrations.

“I think every situation’s a little bit different,” LaFleur explained during his usual day-after-the-game Q&A session with reporters at Lambeau Field. “If you can feel it and you know something’s going on, then you absolutely [address it]. You’re not going to run away from potential problems. You’re going to attack it head-on.

“At least, that’s how we operate. And that’s how I’ll continue to operate here. But, yeah, I know it can be frustrating for these guys. [But] you just never know within the process. That’s why you’ve just got to keep working and try to do your job.”

Heading into next Sunday’s matchup between the Packers (5-1-1) and the Carolina Panthers (4-4) at Lambeau Field, wide receiver Romeo Doubs leads the Packers in total targets with 42, followed by Kraft (41), wide receiver Matthew Golden (26), running back Josh Jacobs (23) and wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (20). No other player has hit double digits.

Against the Steelers, quarterback Jordan Love completed 29 of 37 passes for 360 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 134.2 — his highest of the season and the second-highest of his tenure as the Packers starter. (Only his 157.2 rating in a 2023 NFC wild card playoff win at Dallas was better.)

But in the process, Love completed passes to 10 different players — 14 to wide receivers (four to Christian Watson, three to Doubs, three to Malik Heath, three to Golden and one to Savion Williams for an 8-yard touchdown); nine to tight ends (seven to Kraft, plus one each to Luke Musgrave and John FitzPatrick); and six to running backs (three each to Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson).

Watson, making his season debut after being activated from the physically unable to perform list to play in his first game since tearing the ACL in his right knee in last year’s regular-season finale, caught all four balls thrown his way for 85 yards.

Meanwhile, Doubs caught three of his six targets for 44 yards and Golden caught all three of his targets but for a not-so-grand total of 4 yards.

Wicks was inactive with a calf injury, and another top wide receiver, Jayden Reed, is on injured reserve after breaking his collarbone in the Packers’ Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders on Sept. 11. Wicks is not expected to miss extended time and Reed should return late in the year following surgery.

“It’s a lot of guys in our offense. That’s something I will continue to say because it’s not just me, Christian or Tuck,” said Doubs, who felt frustrated early last season with his opportunities and stayed home from work for two days leading into a road game against the Los Angeles Rams.

“Some games, Matthew will get involved. And then Wicks has gotten there before. And then with Jayden Reed, obviously [him] being out [is] very unfortunate, but we all know that he’s a playmaker in this offense, too. It’s just all around.”

LaFleur was just talking about his desire to keep everyone involved after Golden caught three passes for 86 yards — including a huge 31-yard pickup on third-and-8 to help put the game away in the fourth quarter — in the Packers’ Oct. 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

While he said his goal as a play-caller is to spread the ball around (“You want to get ‘em all involved”), he also admitted how had it cam be (“There’s a lot of mouths to feed, for sure”). 

Golden, meanwhile, said all the right things when asked if he wanted to be more involved, saying, “I definitely would love to be ‘that guy,’ but it’s just playing a role. … But there’s nothing better than winning. That’s all that matters.”

Later, when asked about not having gotten his first NFL touchdown yet, Golden added, “I feel like for me, that’s a selfish thing, saying I want to get in the end zone. I know I’m capable of anything. That’s just the mindset I got. There can never be too much on my plate. I got all that confidence in myself. But [whatever] opportunities I get, I’m going to make the most of them and I’m going to go from there.”

In the meantime, LaFleur knows his job is to win games, and the Packers’ chances of winning increase with each point the offense generates.

And if that means LaFleur calls more plays where Kraft, who heads into Sunday’s matchup against Carolina leading the Packers in receptions (30), receiving yardage (469) and touchdown receptions (six), is the first read in the progression, so be it.

“I mean, certainly we want to get everybody involved. But the bottom line is, it’s about winning. It’s about moving the football. It’s about scoring points,” LaFleur said Monday. “And a lot of times, you can’t dictate what coverages teams are going to play, and that certainly dictates where the ball’s going to end up going.

“Within every game plan, we try to put in things for each individual. I just can’t guarantee where the ball’s going to go.”

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