It felt wrong seeing No. 33 in purple and gold scamper into the end zone for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. While the Green Bay Packers are 0-1 and undoubtedly miss Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs made his long-awaited Packers debut in Sāo Paulo on Friday night.
Jacobs didn’t have an awe-inspiring performance, but he was solid in his first game wearing green and gold. Jacobs ran the ball 16 times for 84 yards, averaging 5.3 a run. The Packers also got him involved in the passing game, with two receptions for 20 yards.
If you want to see a condensed version of all of Jacobs’ runs for Green Bay on Friday, here is the video for you:
And here’s the highlights of his best runs:
Jacobs had some explosive rushes, including two for over 20 yards. However, if you take away his runs for 32 and 22 yards, he had only 29 yards on 14 carries for an average of 2.1 yards per carry. Without his two best runs, that stat line looks pretty disappointing.
To be fair to Jacobs, the field conditions in Brazil were terrible. Players constantly lost their footing, which greatly affected the game.
There were some plays where Jacobs did not even have a chance:
Jacobs is shifty. However, there’s not much a running back can do when a large human like Milton Williams, who weighs 290 lbs., stands in the backfield while his center and left tackle block each other.
However, Green Bay’s two best linemen played like stars. Zach Tom and Elgton Jenkins received high PFF grades: 92 and 78.9, respectively. PFF considers Tom’s 92 elite, and Jenkins was his usual self. Tom didn’t give up a pressure in 43 pass-blocking snaps. Jenkins also didn’t allow a pressure in pass protection.
Still, Green Bay’s other linemen could have been better. Josh Myers earned PFF’s third-worst offensive grade on the team at 50.1. He gave up two pressures and was mediocre in the run game. Sean Rhyan was okay, but the Packers replaced him with rookie Jordan Morgan as the game progressed. Rasheed Walker gave up a team-high four pressures in pass protection in his first week as the full-time starter at left tackle.
Keep in mind that this was only Week 1. The Packers starters didn’t play much in the preseason. Therefore, they didn’t have much time to work together, and it looked like they were still building chemistry.
I’m eager to see how Morgan and Rhyan split reps going forward. If the poor run blocking continues, we may see rookie Jacob Monk at center or guard to change up the offensive line.
The Las Vegas Raiders had one of the worst offensive lines in the league when Jacobs led the NFL in rushing two years ago. Therefore, Green Bay has the best group Jacobs has ever run behind. While it looked shaky in Week 1, this is not the status quo.
Jacobs showed a lot in his debut. He’s a different back than Jones, and it will take some getting used to for Packers fans to get used to seeing No. 8 in the backfield instead of No. 33. But give the line some time to settle in, don’t play on crappy turf in Brazil, and we’ll see some more consistently explosive games from Jacobs.
All stats and data via ESPN and Green Bay Packers unless otherwise noted.
