The Green Bay Packers overcame the Week 1 injury to start quarterback Jordan Love in their Week 2 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon. But that doesn’t mean that everything went exactly to plan. Especially for starting center Josh Myers.
In the second quarter, Packers quarterback Malik Willis opted to scramble instead of attempting a pass on a 3rd-and-10 play near midfield, which was a bit of a surprise because there wasn’t much of an opening for him to run on the play.
After the game, we received an explanation from Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, who was informed by both Willis and referee Shawn Hochuli that Myers had actually vomited on the ball before snapping it.
“I asked Malik why he didn’t throw the ball on that third down,” said LaFleur. “And he told me that Josh (Myers) threw up on the ball. I was like, that’s the first I have ever heard that.
“Matter of fact, the official came over to me. Shawn (Hochuli) came over to me and said ‘You know, we saw your center throwing up on the ball. Do you want us to take him out next time?’ I said absolutely, please do that. Because, I mean, you’re talking about a critical situation. And it’s third down and I’ve never had to throw with vomit on a football. So I don’t know. Malik probably didn’t appreciate that.”
“I asked Malik (Willis) why he didn’t throw the ball on that third down, and he told me that Josh (Myers) threw up on the ball.” – Packers HC Matt LaFleur
(via @packers) pic.twitter.com/BbJP3UE4bx
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
In the video originally shared by the Green Bay Packers social media team, you really can’t see Myers in the act of vomiting before the play. But in a separate video shared by Clayton of Packerfan Total Access on X, you can see that the incident happened just before the snap.
Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers with the “puke and rally” 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/f61h8C57th
— Packerfan Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) September 15, 2024
Ultimately, the failed third-down conversion didn’t end up harming the Packers, as they would come away with a 16-10 victory over the Colts. But it sure made for quite the unique postgame press conference for LaFleur.