GREEN BAY — Josh Jacobs knows his knee is still bothering him. He knows that he’s off the Green Bay Packers’ injury report, meaning he will play in Saturday night’s matchup with the Baltimore Ravens.
What the Packers veteran running back doesn’t know is why he never played another snap after losing a fumble in last Saturday’s overtime loss to the Chicago Bears — other than being on the onside kick “hands” team when Romeo Doubs couldn’t corral the ball late in the fourth quarter, leading to the game-tying touchdown and a 22-16 loss.
“I don’t really know, to be honest,” Jacobs said in advance of the Packers (9-5-1) facing the Ravens (7-8) at Lambeau Field. “Just kind of a collective decision.”
It’s unclear exactly who was part of that collective, however.
Jacobs, who has been battling a bone bruise in his left knee since mid-November, fumbled on a first-and-goal at the Chicago 4-yard line with 6 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter. It was one of the Packers’ five touchdown-less trips inside the Bears’ 20-yard line in the game.
Of the Packers’ 72 offensive snaps, Jacobs played only 28 (39%) while No. 2 running back Emanuel Wilson played 33 (46%) and Chris Brooks played 15 (21%).
Jacobs finished the night having run 12 times for 36 yards (3.0-yard average) and without a carry for longer than 7 yards. Wilson ran 14 times for 82 yards (5.9-yard average) and his longest run was a 14-yarder.
Jacobs said he banged his knee earlier in the game and that it was “stiffening up” at that point in the game. But when asked directly if he was upset or annoyed that he didn’t play again after the fumble, Jacobs acknowledged that he was — particularly since it meant he never got a chance to atone for his mistake.
“Of course. I mean, especially once you have a play like that, that you want to obviously make up for, you want to play,” Jacobs replied. “But at the end of the day, too, you’ve got to do what’s best for the team and [Wilson] was playing good at that time, too, so I wasn’t too much worried about it.”
Later, Jacobs pointed out that he’d been listed as questionable going into the game on a shortened week, saying, “There’s still a lot of football left. We’ve still got a lot of football to play. I wasn’t even 100% 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 is what it is.”
That said, it’s unclear exactly who decided to hold Jacobs out for the remainder of the game, since offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich certainly didn’t sound like it was his idea, and head coach Matt LaFleur delivered no clarity on the decision, either.
“I’m sure he’s really upset that he fumbled down there, for sure,” Stenavich said. “[But] I’m never not going to want Josh Jacobs in the game. Ever. If that answers your question.”
Asked what that meant, and whether Jacobs’ absence was injury-related, Stenavich repeated, “I’m just saying I’m never going to not want Josh Jacobs in the game running the ball for us.”
LaFleur, speaking the day after the loss to the Bears, suggested Jacobs’ knee injury was part of the equation and said the fumble was not the reason he did not play thereafter.
“A lot of it was just, we all know what this guy’s been dealing with and he’s been fighting to go back in there,” LaFleur said. “I think a little bit of it was, I thought ‘E’ was running pretty well, so we kind of were rolling with that.
“But certainly Josh is competitive as anybody I’ve been around [with] his ability to get himself ready to play, to go out there and be effective. Unfortunately, [the fumble] was a tough play, but it had nothing to do with why he wasn’t in there later in the game.”
Whatever the case, because he was able to practice more during the week than he had been leading into previous games, the Packers removed Jacobs from the injury report entirely, meaning he will play against the Ravens.
How much he’ll play, and how effective he’ll be, remains to be seen.
“I don’t really know. I’m practicing a little bit more this week, so that’s a positive. But I don’t know. We’re going to see,” Jacobs said.
“I mean, it’s always a thin line, but it’s their job to protect me from me, too, at the same time. Regardless of [the injury], I feel like I can do certain things. But you’ve got to be realistic with yourself, too.”
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.