GREEN BAY – One broken tackle after the next, Josh Jacobs has set the tone for the Packers' ground game all season long.
While Green Bay's bell cow once again made his presence felt early on during a 34-0 shutout of the New Orleans Saints on Monday night at Lambeau Field, it was understood Jacobs would rest up in the second half if the game was in hand.
Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks kept charging, though.
The Packers' top reserves in the backfield added to the dominance, rushing for 75 combined yards on 17 carries to complement Jacobs' 69 on 13. All three running backs finished with a rushing touchdown, including Brooks getting his first in the second quarter.
In doing so, Jacobs, Wilson and Brooks became the first trio of Green Bay running backs to each score a rushing touchdown in the same game since Dec. 27, 2009, vs. Seattle (Ahman Green, Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson).
"It's very special," said Wilson, who had 11 carries for 52 yards with a fourth-quarter TD. "It's pretty cool to see Chris get his first one; Josh is always going to get his. Getting mine just felt great."
Once again, Jacobs was the offense's hammer in the first half. He racked up 85 yards from scrimmage on the Packers' first two drives, both of which produced touchdowns.
From an energy standpoint, there may have been no bigger play during that sequence than when he stiff-armed New Orleans safety Tyrann Mathieu to the ground during his 20-yard run on Green Bay's first drive.
The highlight quickly made the rounds on social media, but Jacobs was more upset that he fell out of bounds at the Saints' 1-yard line. Three plays later, however, quarterback Jordan Love found a wide-open Dontayvion Wicks for a 2-yard touchdown to put Green Bay on the board.
"I honestly did not know how the stiff arm was, but everybody kept telling me about it," Jacobs said. "I was trying to score. I was mad that I stepped out. I was like, 'Man, I probably should've dove there, tried to get in.' I seen him flying a little bit, but it is what it is."
Jacobs got the touchdown back on the next drive, punching in a 2-yard score to cap a season-long 17-play drive that traveled 96 yards and ate nearly nine minutes off the clock.
Once Green Bay pushed its lead to 24-0 after halftime, Head Coach Matt LaFleur told Jacobs that he was going to shut him down to save wear and tear on his primary running back's body.
The offense was in good hands with Wilson and Brooks, who scored his first NFL touchdown midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard run up the middle.
It was a make-good of sorts for Brooks, who went down shy of the end zone two months ago in order to preserve a 30-27 win over Jacksonville in Week 8.
"It felt great," said Brooks, who finished with 23 yards on six carries. "All the work that's been put in and everything, everything's paying off. So, I'm happy. Couldn't have done it on my own."
It wasn't just the running backs, either. The game saw nine different ball carriers contribute, the most in a single game for the Packers since nine rushed for 303 yards in a 37-14 win in 1953 over the Baltimore Colts.
That included end-arounds from receivers Christian Watson (two for 23 yards), Bo Melton (one for 14) and Jayden Reed (one for five). Tight end Tucker Kraft even added two yards after motioning under center for a sneak on third-and-1 in the first quarter.
"We knew they weren't traveling as much with the motions, so we started handing the ball off," Melton said. "We saw a lot of guys get around the edge on them, so we just started running out of the outside-zone things. It was fun. It was fun, definitely."
The Packers' 188 rushing yards marked their seventh game this season with 160-plus, which is the team's most in a season since 2003 (eight).
Jacobs admits it was different sitting out most of the second half, but what mattered most was Green Bay notched a shutout victory that guaranteed the Packers their fifth playoff berth in LaFleur's six seasons.
"It was weird, honestly. I say that because I'm like, dang, halftime, I'm not even playing no more," Jacobs said. "I'm looking at the score and I also think that's the first like shutout (in the NFL) this year, so I mean it feels good.
"I give all the credit to my teammates. We come in each day. We work hard, we try to get better and we gonna keep doing that."
