GREEN BAY — Josh Jacobs wasn’t ready to proclaim the Green Bay Packers’ running game fixed. The veteran running back and team captain knew that while one half of one game can be encouraging, making a grand proclamation that all is well would be a mistake. 

That’s why Jacobs wasn’t panicking early in the year when the production wasn’t great — instead, he coolly emphasized that it takes time for the back and the blocking unit to jell — and why he was looking at other factors in his productivity following last Sunday night’s 40-40 tie with the Dallas Cowboys.

“I’m just trying to do what I can,” the Pro Bowl running back said with a shrug. “Sometimes the game is going to be like that.”

It’s not for a lack of trying, as Jacobs led the NFL in rushing attempts (80) through the first four weeks of the season. The problem is he’s amassed just 266 yards—an average of just 3.3 yards per attempt and 66.5 yards per game.

He ran 16 times for just 30 yards in the Packers’ Sept. 21 loss to the Cleveland Browns and their then-No. 1 ranked run defense, and at halftime of last Sunday night’s tie, he’d carried eight times for just 16 yards.

But after that, not only did Jacobs carry 14 times for 70 yards (a 5.0-yard average) to finish with a season-high 86 yards on the day, but backup Emanuel Wilson added another 38 yards on six carries after managing just 6 yards on two attempts in the first half.

“It felt wonderful,” Wilson said of the second-half uptick in production. “For the past three weeks, we really didn’t get it going, and now we got it going.”

After a 1,329-yard, 15-touchdown debut season with the Packers in 2024 after five years with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, Jacobs is on pace to carry the ball more (340 attempts, versus 301 a year ago) but gain less yardage (1,130.5). With four TDs in four games, including two against the Cowboys, he’s on pace for 17 this year.

Asked what he liked about his run game in the second half, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur deadpanned, “That we gained some yards — finally.” 

While LaFleur’s reply elicited a groan from the assembled reporters, he wasn’t trying to be a smart aleck. Heading into Thursday night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, the Packers were 14th in the NFL in rushing yards per game (114.5) and 26th in the 32-team league in rushing yards per attempt (3.76).

“I mean, it’s been a struggle. We all know that,” LaFleur continued. “Running the football can be interesting at times, because a lot of times early on you might not get many yards or it’s tough sledding, and then it’s kind of like a boxing match, when somebody’s throwing body blows. And then you just kind of soften them up as the game goes, and that’s kind of what happened in the game.

“But I just thought our backs ran hard. I thought our guys were coming off the ball up front. I still think there’s more out there for us, but I was happy to see it kind of get going as the game progressed.”

How much progress the backs and the run-blocking unit make in the coming weeks will be vital to the offense’s success, and it would help if the Packers can get their preferred starting five up front on the line.

They played without starting left guard Aaron Banks (groin) and right tackle Zach Tom (oblique). While 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan started in Banks’ place, Darian Kinnard started for Tom with Anthony Belton (ankle) also sidelined and with Morgan filling in for Banks.

With the Packers on their bye week, LaFleur was non-committal on the possibility of Banks, Tom or both of them returning to game action against the Cincinnati Bengals at Lambeau Field on Oct. 12.

For Jacobs, getting the line settled would certainly help with the way defenses have been gearing up to stop him by putting eight defenders in the box and outnumbering his blockers.

“It’s definitely a combination of both, just because, as a runner, you’ve got to get a feel for guys,” Jacobs said of the way defenses are playing him and the unrest on the offensive line. “Everybody plays a little differently. You learn certain tendencies about certain guys and things like that.

“At the end of the day, the standard is still the standard. The way we’re running, the details are still the details. I’ve got to trust the guys that are in, that they’re going to do their jobs. They’ve got to trust in me to do mine.”

And that’s what happened in the second half against a Cowboys defense whose style was susceptible to some of the inside zone schemes the Packers ran.

“I think it was a combination between the guys up front that we had, straining a little harder, but also their scheme,” Jacobs said. “They slanted a lot, so they got, like, hit or miss plays. They slanted their line a lot, so it might be one gain, zero gain, [but then], if you get behind it, it’s a big one. That’s kind of how the game played out.”

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