Packer Central

Josh Jacobs Feels ‘Great,’ Ready to Rumble Against Lions

Whether it’s at practice or in the games, Josh Jacobs is ready to carry the lion’s share of the action, even after getting the ball 49 times the past two games

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) signals for a first down at the end of a run against the Miami Dolphins.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) signals for a first down at the end of a run against the Miami Dolphins. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – How’s Josh Jacobs feeling after getting 49 touches the past two games?

“I feel great,” the Green Bay Packers’ workhorse running back said on Tuesday, two days before an NFC North showdown at the Detroit Lions.

Jacobs carried the ball 26 times last Sunday against San Francisco. Then, four days later, he carried the ball 19 times and caught four passes on Thursday against Miami. Thursday’s game at Ford Field will mark Jacobs’ third game in 12 days.

The heavy workload might not be uncharted territory for Jacobs. His 248 touches this season are fourth in the NFL, and his 20.7 touches per game is right in line with his 20.6 average during five seasons with the Raiders.

But it is for coach Matt LaFleur.

In 2019, Aaron Jones received a career-high 285 touches, or 17.8 per game, though he did get at least 21 touches in each of the final five games (including playoffs) last season.

To make sure his No. 1 running back is as fresh as possible for gameday, LaFleur makes sure to limit Jacobs’ reps at practice.

“He does a great job communicating with us where he’s at,” LaFleur said. “I trust him in terms of, if he needs more that he’ll let us know and if, he needs less, he’ll also let us know. But we are mindful of just how many reps he’s getting throughout the course of the week.”

Jacobs isn’t a big subscriber to the less-is-more approach.

“They be getting on me because they be wanting me to take less reps,” Jacobs said, “but I think it’s important for the guys to see me work. I think it’s important to get the reps. So, I practice.”

That’s Jacobs stepping up to be a leader. Given his importance to the team and the workload he’s carried, chances are nobody on the roster would gripe or grumble about Jacobs getting a day off or some special treatment. That’s standard operating procedure for most veterans around the league.

So, why is it important for Jacobs to practice?

“I think for me it’s just what I’m used to,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for so long. I feel like the running back room in general, we kind of set the tone for the team. Each day, regardless of it’s practice or a game, we try to come out and do that.”

Jacobs’ professional approach is helpful when he and LaFleur come to a grudging agreement on practice reps. He knows what he’s doing from a schematic and fundamentals perspective so doesn’t necessarily need to take all the first-team snaps.

“He’s a guy that I really don’t worry about in terms of assignment,” LaFleur said. “And every rep he gets, it’s meaningful, whether it’s in a walk-through, he is taking the correct footwork, he’s pressing the right gaps, he’s reading it the right way, making sure all the little details are on point.

“And then you see the same thing when he gets a live rep. I mean, just how hard he’s going, how he finishes. He just a coach’s dream. He does it the right way.”

Jacobs enters Thursday’s game ranked fourth in the NFL with 987 rushing yards. He’s brought a touch of old-school football back to Green Bay, which is running the ball more than 50 percent of the time.

“He’s playing really well, and I think the team’s rallying around him and his play style and I would agree we’re playing very physically right now,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.

Jacobs needs 13 yards to reach 1,000 for the season – a milestone he totally dismissed.

The only number that matters to Jacobs, he said, is the one in the win column. He had a good game against Detroit before the bye with 13 carries for 95 yards, with the scoreboard, not the Lions, the only thing standing in his way from an even bigger game.

“I remember we did a lot of things that hurt ourselves and put us in a situation where I feel like we were playing catch-up for the whole second half of the game,” Jacobs said. “Yeah, man, I think that we did a lot of things well early. We cut down on mistakes, it’s going to come down to the wire, but it’ll be a better game.”

Latest Green Bay Packers News 

Packers won’t be bothered by Ford Field | Packers-Lions Tuesday injury report | Consensus NFL Power Rankings | Robert Rochell plays for slain friends | Packers-Lions Monday injury report | Jordan Love getting hot | The Packers’ YAC attack | Latest playoff probabilities after Week 13 | Two big injury updates | Quay Walker playing best football | Packers-Lions matchups | Packers sign two to practice squad | The most “annoying” penalties | Packers-Lions injury updates

Published |Modified
Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.