DETROIT – When the Packers needed a lift Thursday, it again turned to Josh Jacobs to power the offense forward.
The sixth-year running back rushed for 66 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries during Green Bay's 34-31 loss to the Detroit Lions, eclipsing 1,000 rushing yards in the process for the fourth time in his career.
It's also the fourth time in Jacobs' career he's had three rushing touchdowns in a game, with all three scores coming inside Detroit's 6-yard line on Thursday.
"If it's one guy or two guys, I still like me," said Jacobs, who now has a rushing touchdown in four straight games for the first time in his career. "I was just trying to come in and give Coach the confidence to keep handing me the ball in the red zone."
After having to punt on their first two possessions, the Packers turned to Jacobs and the run game midway through the second quarter and began to find some rhythm.
Jacobs busted a game-long 19-yard run to kick start an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive that lasted 7 minutes, 26 seconds. He finished it with a 1-yard TD run after a defensive pass interference penalty on Terrion Arnold in the end zone.
After Keisean Nixon picked off Detroit quarterback Jared Goff in the third quarter, Jacobs converted the takeaway into points with a 6-yard touchdown run that gave Green Bay its first lead of the evening, 21-17.
His 4-yard TD run at the beginning of the fourth quarter was Jacobs' eight rushing TD over the last four games, making him just the second Green Bay running back since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to do so (Aaron Jones, 2019).
"He's huge. He's been huge for our whole offense," receiver Christian Watson said. "Just speaking for myself, I gotta find a way to be better to complement him more."
Jacobs' 49 rushing yards at halftime bided time for the Packers' passing game, which had just 24 net yards through the first two quarters. Green Bay opened the second half with a 59-yard pass to Watson to set up a 12-yard TD pass to tight end Tucker Kraft.
"We found ourselves early in some third-and-longs, passing situations where they were able to do what they like to do," center Josh Myers said. "So just gotta do a better job staying out of those early on and then when we are in them we've got to do a better job picking them up."
Can't keep Tucker down: Kraft set the tone for the Packers in the third quarter – first with his touchdown and then his 21-yard reception.
The latter came after the Lions chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 31. With Green Bay's offense taking over deep in Detroit territory, quarterback Jordan Love found a wide-open Kraft underneath.
The 6-foot-5, 259-pound tight end was met by a barrage of Lions defenders, who sent him to the ground after Kraft went vertical. He didn't stay down for long, though, as Kraft performed a kip-up to his feet to end the quarter.
Jacobs scored two plays later.
"Get my ass up. No matter how hard you get hit, it's about how fast you get up," said Kraft on his mindset. "They can talk all the (stuff) that they want. They can hit me as hard as they want but they're not going to stop me from getting up. That's what I want defenses to know. They can hit me as hard as they (expletive) want to; I'm going to get up. I'm going to give juice, especially after making a play (for a) first down."
Watson addresses fumble, OPI: The Packers' second-year receiver finished with 114 yards on just four catches (28.5 yards per reception) but was thinking more about what might have been in the immediate aftermath of Thursday's loss.
Watson started the second quarter with a 20-yard catch and run but lost the football when Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III punched it out from behind. Detroit parlayed the takeaway in a Jake Bates 43-yard field goal to push its lead to 10-0 at the time.
"Just trying to do too much. I gotta protect the ball," Watson said. "The ball is the most important thing. Come back and had the ball out too loose. Just gotta protect the ball."
Watson also was involved in a strange sequence during Green Bay's final offensive possession when referee John Hussey and his crew called him for offensive pass interference in the Detroit red zone after Watson collided with Lions safety Kerby Joseph.
Joseph appeared to stop in front of Watson on a slant and quickly fell to the turf. The play went on for a few more seconds with Love finding Jacobs for a touchdown that was then waved off.
"Just gotta try to find a way to avoid him," Watson said. "It's not even a pick play. I'm not trying to pick for anybody. I wasn't looking in there, trying to navigate anything like that because I'm on the backside of the play. He turned, looked at me, saw me and ran straight at me. I just have to find a way to avoid it."
Injuries in the secondary: Already playing without cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Corey Ballentine due to knee injuries, Green Bay finished the game without rookie safeties Evan Williams (concussion) and Javon Bullard (ankle).
Zayne Anderson replaced Williams on the back end while Bullard's injury caused Nixon to slide into the slot of the nickel subpackage, with Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine playing outside.
"It tough, but it's next-man-up mentality," safety Xavier McKinney said. "I thought Zayne did a hell of a job coming in and being locked in and being on his keys. That's what we expect from him. We see that as we go through practices. We see him locked in and we see all the backups locked in."
Packers welcome a rematch: Green Bay left Detroit on Thursday feeling as though this won't be the last time it sees the Lions this season.
"We're definitely going to be back here and we'll be excited to play them again once we do," defensive lineman Kenny Clark said. "But it's tough, it's a tough loss. Gotta get better from here, and we will get better from here."
