Despite injury, Josh Jacobs pushes Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur for trust. He's proven he can deliver when battling through pain.
Let Josh Jacobs cook. That's all he's saying. He's been a superstar running back for the Green Bay Packers, even when not fully healthy, so let him cook. If he feels he can play, let him play.
That's the message Jacobs has for head coach Matt LaFleur as the Packers head into a vital Week 16 clash in Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears on Saturday evening.
Jacobs has been dealing with a knee injury for weeks now. It's been so bad that he's missed practices, and he's admitted to the knee swelling while playing during games.
The knee swelled up again last weekend against the Denver Broncos, but Jacobs still rushed 12 times for 73 yards and a touchdown while also catching one of the prettiest touchdowns you'll ever see a 223-pound running back haul in:
If Jacobs can do that while not at 100-percent, he can do anything.
That's why he's publicly making his case to play on Saturday against the Bears, even if he is a bit banged up. Jacobs was amongst 10 players listed as questionable for this NFC North-defining clash in Chicago, but he's talking as if he's going to go.
In fact, he's going to push LaFleur to let him out there.
"It's been a couple times since I've been here where we kind of clashed on if they was going to allow me to play or not, and every time I had a pretty good game," Jacobs said on Thursday, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN. "I think he's probably to the point where he's like, 'Man, I'm just going to trust you. If you say you can do it and you believe that you can do, then I'm going to let you go.'"
Jacobs' knee has been bugging him ever since he hurt it on November 16 against the New York Giants. He sat out a week but has been playing ever since. In fact, since the game he sat out (against the Minnesota Vikings on November 23) he's rushed 49 times for 242 yards and three touchdowns.
Remember, against the Broncos, he also had this beautiful run:
If Jacobs say she can go, he can go, because that's the kind of stuff he can do for the Packers.
He's asking for just one thing from LaFleur this weekend, and that's trust.
Jacobs has earned it.