The Packers finally have Josh Jacobs back in the picture for Week 7, but that doesn’t mean they can just drop him straight into a full workload against the Lions.
Green Bay was eager to get Jacobs off the Commissioner’s Exempt List with a road trip to Detroit on deck, and the timing of that return puts Matt LaFleur in a tricky spot. Jacobs is cleared to play, but the Packers have only two full days of practice this week, and LaFleur didn’t exactly slam the door on managing his usage.
“We'll see. We'll work through it,” LaFleur told Demovsky.
That cautious tone lines up with the reality of where Jacobs is in his ramp-up. He has not played since the Chicago Bears’ wild comeback in the Wild Card round on January 10, and he only got back on the practice field with the team on Monday, Oct. 19, a day after Green Bay hammered the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
There is also the added wrinkle of the Packers’ Thursday Night Football game on Oct. 29 against the Carolina Panthers, which has forced a slightly different practice plan this week. That’s not ideal for a player trying to re-enter game shape, even one with Jacobs’ experience. He has been in the league since 2019, and he has been training while waiting for this return.
Still, the Packers can’t afford to overextend him. Given everything they’ve dealt with at running back this season, there’s no sensible case for throwing Jacobs right back into his usual 20-plus carry role. The smarter move is a snap count and a gradual return to form.
Green Bay just did something similar with Savion Williams, who came off IR and was worked into the Cowboys game right away so he could get back up to speed. Jacobs figures to follow a similar path if the Packers do, in fact, put him on the field Sunday. Ian Rapoport said on Good Morning Football that he “expects” Jacobs to play against the Lions on Sunday, Oct. 25, but LaFleur’s comments suggest the team may still be keeping its plans under wraps.
In Other News...
Packers Defense Faces A Bigger Test Than Just Beating Detroit
The Packers and Lions are set to run it back after their Thanksgiving meeting, and this version of the matchup looks a lot different on both sides of the ball. Injuries have reshaped the defensive outlook for each team, which puts even more pressure on the pass rush to show up against quarterbacks Jared Goff and Jordan Love, two players who have helped drive this rivalry into one of the NFCs more interesting weekly measuring sticks.
Green Bays challenge goes beyond simply trying to beat Detroit again. The Packers are trying to keep their front intact while dealing with health issues up and down the roster, and the strain at defensive tackle has become impossible to ignore. In the middle of all that, the urgency around fortifying the defensive line has grown, because if the Packers cannot generate disruption up front, the rest of the matchup gets a lot tougher in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Love Is Giving Packers Fans A Wild New Debate
Jordan Love has spent much of this season taking a beating behind a Packers line that has already allowed 13 sacks and left him getting hit 30 times, but he has kept Green Bay afloat anyway. Even with the physical toll, Love has stayed near the top of the league in passing yards and touchdowns, which has helped fuel a 4-2 start and turned him into one of the biggest reasons the Packers have been able to navigate the early part of the schedule.
The bigger question now is how long he can keep balancing production with punishment. Love is doing enough to make people around the league take notice, and the case for him as one of the NFLs more intriguing quarterbacks has only grown louder as the wins pile up. For Packers fans, the debate is no longer whether he can lead this team, but how high his ceiling really is if the protection in front of him does not improve. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Must Deal With Detroit's Most Dangerous Weapon Sunday
Ahead of Sundays Week 7 matchup, Matt LaFleur had plenty of praise for one of Detroits biggest problems for opposing defenses: Jahmyr Gibbs. The Packers coach pointed to Gibbs change of direction and all-around versatility, a nod to the kind of stress he can put on a defense whether the Lions use him as a runner or as a receiver out of the backfield.
That versatility is exactly why Green Bay has spent the week thinking about how to slow him down while also getting its own ground game on track. Gibbs has already emerged as a central piece of Detroits offense, and if the Packers are going to control the matchup, theyll need a cleaner plan against a weapon who can affect the game in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]