Packer Central

Without Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs Took Charge for Packers

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who dominated against the Jaguars, will be ready to rumble again for Sunday’s big showdown against the Detroit Lions.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars. / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the Green Bay Packers facing a bit of an emergency on Sunday in Jacksonville, they did the only sensible thing.

They broke the glass, grabbed the fire extinguisher in the No. 8 jersey and put out the fire.

It was moments like the second half of the 30-27 victory over the Jaguars that show why the Packers signed Josh Jacobs in free agency. And why they’ll lean on Jacobs, who came out of Sunday’s game with a relatively clean bill of health, against the powerhouse Detroit Lions on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

When Jordan Love finally dropped out early in the third quarter due to a groin injury, Jacobs had 12 carries for 39 yards against a stout Jaguars run defense. The rest of the game, he carried 13 times for 78 yards.

“My goal coming into this game was to inspire the play-caller, inspire the team,” Jacobs said. “Whatever that looks like, I just wanted to come in and run hard. Have the guys trust in me. It just played out that way.

“Unfortunately, Jordan got hurt. I just wanted to come in and make a statement that we could still win games running the ball. We can still win games however we want if we lock into the details and things like that.”

The Packers punted after Love exited and the Jaguars rolled right down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown. That’s when Jacobs went to work.

On four consecutive carries, he gained 5, 4, 2 and 5 yards. Of those 16 yards, 12 came after contact with three broken tackles. After Malik Willis converted a third-and-3 with a pass to Dontayvion Wicks and scrambled for 20, Jacobs delivered perhaps his biggest play with the team.

He bounced a run to the left and broke tackles by De’Andre Prince at the 33 and linebacker Ventrell Miller at the 30 to get into the open field. With Christian Watson delivering a key block, Jacobs went the distance for a 38-yard touchdown to put the Packers on top 20-17.

Moments later, blitzing linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s sack/strip set up a short touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft to make it 27-17. Willis faked the handoff to Jacobs, who was engulfed by the Jaguars’ defense. Perhaps only one defender had his eyeballs on Kraft when Willis threw the ball.

“Close the game. Close the game now,” was Jacobs’ mentality. “It was a tight game. We went out there and scored and then we made a big play on defense. That was the only thing on my mind was close the game out, burn some time on the clock and come out with the win.”

Jacobs finished the day with 25 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns. He did a lot of it on his own. By our unofficial count, Jacobs had 95 yards after contact and broke 10 tackles. (NFL’s Next Gen Stats credited him with 99 yards after contact and Pro Football Focus had 98 yards after contact and eight missed tackles).

“He’s a stud, isn’t he?” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “The physicality that he runs with, he looked a little gimpy at the end of the game and he still wanted to stay in. But I just thought it was best to get him out and get him checked out. But he is a pro’s pro. I can’t say enough great things about him.

“We’re lucky to have a guy like that, the way he comes in and communicates and works and demands it of himself but demands it of others, as well.”

A source on Monday said there will be no concerns about Jacobs’ availability for Sunday.

While there’s been outside noise about Jacobs’ lack of opportunties and limited overall impact, it’s all been nonsense.

Jacobs is exactly what the Packers needed after deciding to move on from Aaron Jones. While he might lack Jones’ explosiveness, he’s younger and more durable. By limiting his touches at times, the Packers had him fresh and ready to rumble during the second half against Jacksonville.

“Josh is a very consistent piece to the offense,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Thursday. “You see as games go on just how much better his production gets throughout the game.

“I think he’s a physical kind of runner. He’s very instinctive, really good vision and he does a good job breaking tackles. I think that run style, as a game goes on, wears on defenses. So, yeah, he’s everything I thought we were getting. He’s a very big piece of our offense.”

With the Monday night game pending, Jacobs is tied for first in the NFL in carries (145) and fourth in rushing (667 yards). He’s averaging a solid 4.60 yards per carry with a sledgehammer approach that seems to maximize every opportunity.

Using the PFF numbers from Week 8, Jacobs ranked third in yards after contact (Houston’s Joe Mixon had 100 and Chicago’s D’Andre Swift had 99) and first in missed tackles. Of 30 running backs with at least 10 carries, he was 10th with 3.92 yards after contact per carry.

Of the 43 backs with at least 50 carries this season, Jacobs is ninth in yards after contact per carry (3.52) and third in missed tackles (31).

Love has a chance to play this week, according to NFL Network. Regardless of the quarterback, Jacobs figures to be the starting point of Green Bay’s offense for Sunday’s big showdown against the Lions. While he slowly walked off the field following his final carry against the Jaguars, he will be ready to rumble for the biggest game of the season.

“Even when they were tackling me, it was like I’m going down but I’m a step away from getting out of it,” Jacobs said. “I just kept telling them – just trust me. It played out how it did.”

More Green Bay Packers News 

Packers-Jaguars report card | Inside the game-winning completion | Brian Gutekunst’s latest moves win the game | ‘High level’ of concern for Jordan Love | Packers-Jaguars: Stock report | Packers-Jaguars: Game story | Packers-Jaguars: Game highlights | Packers-Jaguars: Live updates | Packers-Jaguars: Big matchup | Three reasons why Packers will beat Jaguars | Packers miss several top receivers (including one from Detroit) | Brian Gutekunst’s genius showed this week

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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.