Packer Central

Packers’ Josh Jacobs Trying to Get Out of NFL Record Book

Josh Jacobs made some weird NFL history a couple weeks ago. Now, the Packers would like to get him out of the record book.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs gets into the open field against the Tennessee Titans.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs gets into the open field against the Tennessee Titans. / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs has kept every one of his 47 career NFL touchdowns. Most of them are at his home and he’s given others to charity, but all of them have left the stadium in his possession.

Not one of those touchdowns has come on a pass, creating a statistical oddity.

In six seasons, Jacobs has caught 205 passes. That’s the most in NFL history for a player without a touchdown catch.

Jacobs caught his 200th career pass in the win against Tennessee. With the second of his four receptions against the Vikings, Jacobs made odd-ball NFL history with his record 202nd catch without a touchdown. Former Atlanta and Washington running back Gerald Riggs held the record with 201.

Jacobs, his typical jovial self at his locker on Friday, took the bizarro history in stride.

“I really don’t care. If I get it, I get it,” Jacobs said. “Every week I feel like we have a few of them in the red zone of where the backs could potentially get the ball. But I don’t care. If I get one, I do; if I don’t. It is what it is.”

Jacobs scored his first touchdown with the Packers last week – snapping a career-long streak of four games without finding the end zone. Getting him a touchdown had been a point of emphasis.

Jacobs’ score against the Rams – he bounced off the pile, then won the race to the pylon – was set up by Jayden Reed’s 53-yard catch.

“That was definitely a difficult catch, so I’m just glad I made a play for Josh to get into the end zone,” Reed said this week. “That was always my mindset. Right after I caught it, I ran up to Josh and I was like, ‘Man, that was for you,’ because I told him during the week, like, ‘It’s your time to get in there.’ I’m happy he made that play right after.”

Now, getting him a touchdown catch, and getting him out of the NFL record book, is a point of emphasis.

“Oh, we’ve talked about that. Oh, yeah,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “That’s something that’s on our minds for sure, get rid of that record. He got the record, so now we don’t need to prolong it any further than it’s already gone.”

Really? In the midst of game-planning for a defense that won 5-of-6 red-zone possessions in an upset win at San Francisco last week, the coaches are contemplating ways to get Jacobs in the end zone through the air?

Yes, Stenavich said.

“Anytime you see that happening, you’re like, ‘Oh, let’s make sure we can get him a play down there.’ Hopefully, we can get him a receiving touchdown. That’d be good. We got him a rushing touchdown last week. That was nice by him to make that play and make some guys miss. That was a big-time play.” 

In five games in Green Bay, Jacobs has caught eight passes for 73 yards, lagging well behind his production with the Raiders, where he caught 54 passes in 2021, 53 passes in 2022 and 37 in 13 games last year.

He’d love more opportunities to get out in space, where he can use his power against smaller defenders.

“I think it just depends on the game,” he said. “It depends on the defenses, how they’re playing us, but I like me in open space in any situation, any scenario.”

Jacobs’ last receiving touchdown came on Dec. 29, 2018, when he caught a 27-yard pass in the Orange Bowl against Kyler Murray-led Oklahoma.

It will be Jacobs and the Packers against Murray and the Cardinals on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Most Receptions Without a Touchdown Catch

The all-time leaderboard, according to Stathead:

Josh Jacobs (2019 to current): 205 catches without a touchdown.

Gerald Riggs (1982 to 1991): 201.

Eric Bieniemy (1991 to 1999): 146.

Doug Cunningham (1967 to 1974): 137.

Leonard Russell (1991 to 1996): 122.

Earl Campbell (1978 to 1985): 121.

Frank Pollard (1980 to 1988): 104.

Jaylen Warren (2022 to current): 94.

All of those players are running backs. The only receiver in the top 20 is New England’s Demario Douglas, a second-year player whose 67 catches without a touchdown is tied for 20th-longest in NFL history.

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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.