Nobody Can Stop Josh Jacobs, Not Even the Packers’ Coaches

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Perhaps Jordan Love said it best after the Green Bay Packers’ 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

“Josh is a dog.”

Running back Jacobs has played 23 regular-season games in Green Bay. The numbers are eye-popping. He’s run for 1,743 yards, with more than half coming after contact. When the Packers get near the goal line, Jacobs can smell blood. He has 23 touchdowns in those 23 games.

He has emerged as the engine that makes Green Bay’s offense go.

Whether it’s trying to replace Aaron Jones, carrying the offense while the quarterback is injured, running into loaded boxes or playing through an injury himself, Jacobs has passed every test since he was signed in free agency in 2024.

Perhaps most importantly, he’s stayed on the field.

Entering Sunday, Jacobs had been active for all 22 games with the Packers. But after injuring a calf at Friday’s practice and being listed as questionable, there was a legitimate question as to whether he’d be able to play.

In fact, he had to do some convincing for the coaching staff to put him on the field.

“This organization, they do a really good job of protecting the players,” Jacobs said after the game. “They didn’t really want me to play today. It was one of them things where I kind of had to convince them.

“At the end of the day, I feel like you also have to know who you’re talking to. I’m one of those guys, man, if I feel like I can (play) and I’m not going to hurt the team by trying to play, I’m going to play.”

Jacobs is a workhorse, totaling more than 300 carries in his first season with the Packers, a workload that is typically unheard of in today’s running back-by-committee approach employed by most teams.

In the first half, it looked like he was going to take a step back. Jacobs was rotating with Emanuel Wilson and on the sideline far more often than usual. He was told before the game he was going to be on a snap restriction, with the coaches looking to keep him at 20 to 25 plays.

Jacobs played only 10 snaps in the first half – and none over the final 10 minutes. The offense sputtered. They scored six points, stealing three at the buzzer thanks to a franchise-record 61-yard field goal by Lucas Havrisik.

Trailing 13-6 at halftime, the Packers could not find their way offensively.

The game was on the line.

Fictional head coach Jimmy McGinty of The Replacements, played by the late Gene Hackman, said that winners always want the ball when the game is on the line.

Jacobs had enough.

He wanted the ball, and voiced it to the coaching staff.

“There were a couple times where I got into it with them on the sideline about playing. That’s just the type of competitor I am,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs accounted for two of the team’s three touchdowns in the second half. First, the Packers tied the game at 13 on his 8-yard burst around the corner. If he was injured, it was hard to tell based on him outrunning the entire Cardinals defense to the left pylon in the end zone.

Playing through an injured calf, Josh Jacobs found an extra gear. pic.twitter.com/tjiYsmWvYM
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 20, 2025

Jacobs’ creativity and productivity in the run game has been incredibly valuable through his two seasons in Green Bay.

This year especially.

At the start of the season, defenses loaded the box to take away Jacobs. The past couple games, defenses are playing a lot of two-shell to keep a lid on Green Bay’s passing attack. While the Packers’ run game has been better of late, it’s not where it needs to be to make defenses pay.

“We’ve got to get our run game going, because if people are going to play us in shell and you’re not able to run the ball very effectively, it’s going to be a long day,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.

Jacobs finished the game with 55 yards on 13 carries. It wasn’t a gaudy performance, but it was gritty.

Jacobs’ two gutsiest runs of the day came on the team’s final possession while trailing 23-20.

The first was an 8-yard run to the 1. There was nothing there for Jacobs, as Dalvin Tomlinson slipped off a combination block from Aaron Banks and Elgton Jenkins and had Jacobs dead to rights in the backfield.

Jacobs shook Tomlinson and turned a 2-yard loss into a gain of 8. That 10-yard net was huge, because it put the Packers 1 yard away from the lead.

On second-and-5 from the 9, Josh Jacobs is going to be tackled in the backfi...

Or not. pic.twitter.com/IZj2vUqaAD
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 20, 2025

Everyone knew what was coming next.

Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line, remember?

“Man, I know we’re going to be able to hand him the ball and he’s going to find a way to get in there,” Love said. “But I think that’s kind of the M.O. of our offense. We find ways to get down there, we’re going to hand him the ball and see what he can do and what this O-line can do.”

What they could do was punch the ball across the goal line for a 27-23 lead. Jenkins was beaten badly but Jacobs jump-cut to the right, slipped through a tackle in the backfield, and scored behind blocks by right guard Jordan Morgan, right tackle Zach Tom and tight ends Tucker Kraft and John FitzPatrick.

Josh Jacobs and Zach Tom are good at football, as demonstrated on the final touchdown. pic.twitter.com/N1djWBzbhH
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 20, 2025

After one more big play by Micah Parsons and a last-gasp incompletion by Jacoby Brissett, the Packers had snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat on the road.

Five hours earlier, Jacobs was pleading his case to get on the field.

At the end of the game, he was emotional.

“I don’t ever want anybody in here to doubt what I give and how I care about y’all boys,” Jacobs said in a video released on the team’s social media account.

Pressure is a privilege pic.twitter.com/DwsDOFchwx
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 20, 2025

There was no doubt about that, just like there was no doubt that Jacobs was going to carry them to victory.

“Some of those looks weren’t the greatest to run into, but he finds a way,” LaFleur said. “And that’s what great players do. It’s not always the cleanest of looks, but they find a way to get it done. And I would classify Josh Jacobs as a great player.”

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