Packers RB Josh Jacobs Explains (Sort of) Why His Day Ended After Fumble

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs has been playing hurt for several weeks. After fumbling near the goal line in the third quarter against the Chicago Bears last week, he didn’t play again on offense.

Why?

“I don’t really know, to be honest,” Jacobs said after practice on Wednesday. “Just kind of a collective decision. I got hit a few plays before that on the fourth-and-1 on the knee, so it was kind of stiffening up. So, collective decision.”

It might have been a collective decision, but it wasn’t one he liked. The tone of his voice sounded like he was annoyed or even upset.

Asked if that was how he was feeling, without putting words in his mouth, he replied: “Of course. I mean, anybody that wants to play, especially once you have a play like that that you want to obviously make up for or things like that, you want to play.

“But, at the end of the day, too, it’s like, you’ve got to do what’s best for the team and he [Emanuel Wilson] was playing good at that time, too, so I wasn’t too much worried about it.”

That’s what he said but, again, it was the tone of what he said. This wasn’t the smiling, jovial Jacobs of the past few weeks who sounded like he almost relished the challenge of playing hurt the last handful of weeks.

Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich felt it, too.

“I’m sure he’s really upset that he fumbled down there, for sure,” he said.

Asked whether he essentially was benched because of the fumble or the injury, he said:

“Yeah, I’m never not going to want Josh Jacobs in the game. Ever. If that answers your question.”

So, it was injury-related?

“I’m just saying I’m never going to not want Josh Jacobs in the game running the ball for us,” Stenavich said.

If Jacobs was out of the lineup because he was injured, he was back on the field for the onside kick disaster.

“That was the most important play of the game,” he said.

Going from a Sunday game at Denver to a Saturday night game at Chicago, Jacobs didn’t practice before facing the Bears. He carried 12 times for only 36 yards against Chicago, his day as a running back ending on his first-and-goal fumble midway through the third quarter.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs the ball against the Chicago Bears. | David Banks-Imagn Images

In his place, Wilson finished with 14 carries for 82 yards. Essentially, Wilson doubled-up Jacobs in terms of yards per carry.

“There’s still a lot of football left,” Jacobs said. “We’ve still got a lot of football to play. I wasn’t even 100 percent supposed to play in the game, so it’s just like, I already knew what it was going to be just in general for my day, especially once I got hit on the knee and so it just kind of is what it is.”

Coach Matt LaFleur said he wishes the team would be able to give Jacobs a week off but that’s not possible as they fight for their place in the NFC playoff race. For now, the decision comes down to “what’s best for the short term, as well as trying to weigh in the long term.”

Jacobs practiced this week, so that would seem to be a step in the right direction.

The lightened workload last week is the silver lining of whatever the decision from last week. However, he keeps getting “hit on the right spot” – or, more accurately, the wrong side, so every step of progress made during the week is eliminated during the games.

“It’s a weird situation,” he said. “It’s weird for me every day. Like, some days I kind of feel good and then some days I don’t. It’s just weird.”

Last offseason, Jacobs and the Ravens’ Derrick Henry, a pair of former Alabama standouts, along with Saquon Barkley changed the veteran running back market by having Pro Bowl/All-Pro seasons with their new teams. Going from the Giants to the Eagles, Barkley led the NFL with 2,005 rushing yards for the Eagles. Going from the Titans to the Ravens, Henry was second with 1,921 yards. Going from the Raiders to the Packers, Jacobs was sixth with 1,329 yards.

They’ve all tapered off this season. Entering Week 17, Henry is fourth with 1,253 yards but is tied for second among running backs with four fumbles, Barkley is ninth with 1,072 yards and Jacobs is 16th with 926 yards.

On Saturday night, Henry and Jacobs will be in the spotlight as the Ravens try to stay alive in the playoff race and the Packers try to clinch their spot.

“He used to come back all the time, work out and, obviously, he’s like a legend there, so you hear a lot about the stories about things he used to do, like squat 500 pounds after a game and stuff like that,” Jacobs said of Henry. “Used to come back in the summer and train with us, him and Juilo (Jones). Julio used to come back a lot.

“Those guys, really, honestly, was the guys that kind of set the tone of when you see and you epitomize, like, OK, Alabama football, what is it stand for? What does it represent? What does it take? Those are the guys that you see. Julio was the biggest freak athlete I’ve ever seen in my life. Still to this day, certain things that he used to do out there when we was training I’m like, I don’t know how anybody could do this. But that’s just my viewpoint from him.

“And then, obviously, we talk. We don’t really talk about football too much when we talk. We just talk about life. His family and things like that. We touch on the running backs every now and then, but that’s about it.

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