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.”
