JACKSONVILLE – Just trust me.
That's all that was racing through Josh Jacobs' mind, as the Packers running back kept pounding away at Jacksonville's defensive front during an eventual 30-27 win over the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on Sunday.
Even when the big gains weren't there early, Jacobs felt he was getting close to breaking one. All he needed was the carries.
"I kept telling them the whole game … I liked all the runs," Jacobs said. "Even when they were tackling me, it was like I'm going down but I'm a step away from getting out of it. I just kept telling them – just trust me."
The Packers did and it may have won them the game, as Jacobs proved to be a catalyst in Green Bay overcoming the absence of quarterback Jordan Love, who left in the third quarter with a groin injury and didn't return.
Jacobs finished with 127 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, with most of that production coming in the final two quarters (14 rushes for 96 yards).
Jacobs opened the first full series with Malik Willis under center with four straight runs for 16 yards. After Willis scrambled for 20 yards, Jacobs broke a 38-yard TD run that might go down as one of Green Bay's biggest plays of the season.
The score happened with 21 seconds left in the third quarter and served as an emphatic response after Jacksonville had just pulled ahead 20-17.
"My goal coming into this game was to inspire the play-caller, inspire the team," Jacobs said. "Whatever that looks like, I just wanted to come in and run hard. Have the guys trust in me. It just played out that way.
"Unfortunately, Jordan got hurt. I just wanted to come in and make a statement that we could still win games running the ball. We can still win games however we want if we lock into the details."
Signed as a free agent in March, Jacobs has rushed for 667 yards in his first eight games. Only former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Eddie Lacy (669 in 2013) has more in his first eight games with Green Bay.
"Man, Josh is different," said reserve running back Chris Brooks. "We all see what Josh does. What he brings to the table is everything. It's good for young guys like me and 'E' (Emanuel Wilson) to look at that and get better looking at him."
'X' gonna give it to ya: Xavier McKinney picked the perfect time to grab his NFL-leading sixth interception of the year.
A scoreless second quarter began with Love getting picked off inside Jacksonville's red zone. The Jaguars' momentum didn't last long, though, as McKinney intercepted Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence two plays later on a second-and-12 pass down the middle of the field.
The Packers retook possession at the Jacksonville 28 and scored four plays later on a 3-yard Jacobs TD run.
"I was disguising a one-high look and just did my job," McKinney said. "I won my landmark and I think he didn't see what I was disguising and thought I was actually down. I don't think he saw me go back to a half. He kind of threw an over. I saw the over the whole time and I saw the ball in the air, and I knew I could get it."
Cooper lifts Packers' defense: Rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was responsible for Green Bay's only sack against Jacksonville, and it had major repercussions.
Coming on an inside blitz, Cooper punched the ball out of Lawarence's hands. Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt jumped on the ball at the Jacksonville 5-yard line, field position the offense used to retake a two-possession lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
The takeaway was Green Bay's 18th in just eight games, surpassing its total of 17 all last season.
"My main focus was just staying in that gap, keep pushing through," said Cooper, who finished with eight tackles. "Seeing that and being able to change the game and offense went down to score points, it felt good."
Cooper also had a key pass breakup as the trailing linebacker on a deep ball to Christian Kirk on third-and-11 early in the fourth quarter.
Happy Tight Ends Day: Tucker Kraft capped National Tight Ends Day with a quintessential tight end play.
The Packers' second-year tight end practically carried Jacksonville safety Andre Cisco with him 30 yards down the field on his career-long 67-yard catch and run in the second quarter.
The play eventually led to a Green Bay field goal and goes down as the third longest reception by a Green Bay tight end in franchise history, behind only Paul Coffmann (78) and Tom Crabtree (72).
"Jordan saw me and I was trying to pull the plow. Harder to do when you've got a human like a suitcase 30 yards down the field," said Kraft, who also had a 3-yard TD after Cooper's strip sack.
"I was really just trying to make sure I took care of the ball. Because you lose the ball when you can't see the defender punching the ball out from behind. So I was trying to keep my head on a swivel, have good ball security and just get everything I could out of the run."
Kraft's 55 career catches with Green Bay are the most by a Packers tight end in his first 25 games since 1970, one ahead of Jermichael Finley and two in front of Richard Rodgers.
He's also the only Green Bay TE in the Super Bowl era to have two catches of 65-plus yards in a season and just the fourth NFL TE to do it since 2000, joining George Kittle (three in 2018), Mark Andrews (two in 2018) and Vance McDonald (two in 2016).
