{"id":389668,"date":"2025-09-23T04:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/389668\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T04:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T04:02:10","slug":"why-did-packers-let-zach-tom-play-against-browns-chalk-it-up-to-practice-not-simulating-game-conditions-matt-lafleur-says-top-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/389668\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did Packers let Zach Tom play against Browns? \u2018Chalk it up\u2019 to practice not simulating game conditions, Matt LaFleur says | Top Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GREEN BAY \u2014 Matt LaFleur doesn\u2019t think the Green Bay Packers\u2019 medical staff has become less conservative when it comes to clearing players for game action, but the Packers head coach admitted Monday that injured right tackle Zach Tom should never have played in the team\u2019s 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n<p>Tom, who suffered an oblique injury in the Sept. 7 opener against the Detroit Lions and missed the Packers\u2019 Sept. 11 win over the Washington Commanders, had been listed as questionable going into the game but was active and started against the Browns\u2014only to come out after playing only the first offensive snap.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channel3000.com\/news\/top-stories\/packers-list-tucker-kraft-zach-tom-as-questionable-for-browns-matt-lafleur-calls-both-players\/article_41d223db-0826-4b61-a668-1c0f0276b897.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tom had expressed concerns on Friday<\/a> about whether he should play or not against the Browns, acknowledging that he wasn\u2019t 100% but believing his team needed him against the Browns\u2019 top-tier defensive line, led by perennial All-Pro Myles Garrett.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, the long-term does play a part into it, but [expletive], I want to be out there,\u201d Tom said then. \u201cBut it\u2019s kind of like two sides pulling against each other. Because I want to be out there, but I also want to be able to play well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I think the biggest thing is just going to be, am I confident? And, how bad is the pain? It\u2019s just weighing the options and going from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tom was visibly upset when he went to the sideline.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A tough moment for Packers player Zach Tom who is on the sideline due to injury. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N780Qs57gX\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/N780Qs57gX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLonFOX\/status\/1969818618977472649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">September 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>LaFleur said Monday that the issue was that the practice environment didn\u2019t give Tom an accurate gauge on whether he could play in a game with the injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would chalk it up to it\u2019s hard to simulate what these guys are going to go against in the game,\u201d LaFleur explained. \u201cWe did our best in terms of trying to put them through enough and certainly had them going in practice. But still, the game\u2019s a different speed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019d have to ask him, but I think that the force of the guy that he\u2019s going against, it hurt him. He didn\u2019t feel like he could go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LaFleur said Tom did not aggravate the existing injury and did not experience a setback in his recovery. After next Sunday night\u2019s road game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&amp;T Stadium, the Packers have their bye week in Week 5, which would give Tom two weeks to heal.<\/p>\n<p>This marked the second time in a year that a player has been active for a game only to come out after playing sparingly. Last season, cornerback Jaire Alexander was dealing with a knee injury and suited up for a game at Chicago, only to come out after 10 snaps when his knee didn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if the team may need to reconsider its return-to-play protocols to prevent players from suiting up when they shouldn\u2019t, LaFleur said he didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery situation is a little bit different,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cI\u2019m confident in our guys [on the medical staff]. I think they do a great job. They\u2019re thorough. Certainly, the players [have] a say-so in the return to play as well, in terms of their confidence level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst and foremost, you have to be cleared medically, and we never want to put a guy out there who could potentially have a setback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, LaFleur said tight end Tucker Kraft, who was questionable for the game with a knee injury he suffered in practice on Thursday but wound up playing 57 of the Packers\u2019 65 offensive snaps (88%), was no worse for wear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it says a lot about him just in terms of the competitor that he is,\u201d LaFleur said of Kraft playing. \u201cI think he\u2019s feeling good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LaFleur said safety Javon Bullard is in the concussion protocol while defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, who left the game late with what appeared to be a knee injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u200bCOPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.<\/p>\n<p>                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY \u2014 Matt LaFleur doesn\u2019t think the Green Bay Packers\u2019 medical staff has become less conservative when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[54,257,474,7,41,345,2514,2513,5390,462,3031,1304,6,428,14233,9161],"class_list":{"0":"post-389668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-cleveland-browns","9":"tag-dallas-cowboys","10":"tag-devonte-wyatt","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-green-bay","13":"tag-green-bay-packers","14":"tag-greenbay","15":"tag-greenbaypackers","16":"tag-jaire-alexander","17":"tag-javon-bullard","18":"tag-matt-lafleur","19":"tag-myles-garrett","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-packers","22":"tag-tucker-kraft","23":"tag-zach-tom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115251625696920307","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}