Green Bay Packers star running back Josh Jacobs headed to the team’s locker room with a hand injury. According to Erin Andrews of the Fox Broadcast team, his return to the game is questionable.
Jacobs left the game early in the first quarter.
It looked like Jacobs’ hand or finger got caught in the facemask of defender Craig Woodson on his last rushing attempt. His hand was bent backwards.
Jacobs had four rushes for five yards in the Packers’ Week 9 game against the New England Patriots when he left with his hand injury. The team is currently leaning on Pierre Strong with Jacobs out. They also have MarShawn Lloyd as an option.
Jacobs went to the locker room, but is currently back on the Packers sideline. There is a chance he will be returning to the game on their next drive.
Green Bay Packers Lose RB Josh Jacobs to Hand Injury
The Packers’ running game has been a disaster all season. It was expected to get better with the return of Jacobs. However, Jacobs has been slow to hit the ground running. He had 11 rushes for 36 yards in the team’s first game with him in the lineup after being on the Commissioner’s exempt list.
The following week, he had 21 rushes for 39 yards. However, he has been an impactful player in the passing game. Jacobs had five catches for 55 yards in his first game back. He added six catches for 13 yards the next game.
Green Bay is expected to lean pass-heavy without Jacobs. Both Matthew Golden and Christian Watson are having strong games. Jordan Love has over 130 yards in the first quarter, and the Packers lead 14-0 after one quarter.
However, they will have to lean on someone to run the ball to close out the game.
Packers Run Game Woes Continue
Jacobs missed the first six weeks after being charged with misdemeanor criminal damage charges. The team tried to lean on a combination of Strong, Lloyd, and Kaleb Johnson. However, they have had problems and have been waiting for Jacobs to fix things.
They entered the Week ranked 32nd in EPA/play and 29th in success rate as a rushing offense, according to rbsdm.com.
Lloyd currently has 57 rushes for 149 yards. He also has a poor 38% success rate. Kaleb Johnson has 28 rushes for 104 yards. He saw his snaps reduced significantly after a Week 4 fumble and has been inactive with Jacobs back.
Strong and Chris Brooks have split the passing-down-back role. Neither is expected to provide much on the ground. If Jacobs does not return, they might have to lean on Strong, even if though he has 17 rushes in four games this year.
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