Josh Jacobs is set to return to the Green Bay Packers lineup this weekend, a move poised to inject some much-needed life into what has been an absolutely abysmal rushing attack. Forget “bad,” folks, the Packers’ ground game has been flat-out embarrassing this season, holding down a dismal 32nd place in total rushing yards with a paltry 359 so far this year. But with Jacobs back, there’s a real shot to finally stop being the league’s biggest punchline on the ground.
The Rushing Attack Is Not Just Bad, It’s Historic
We have seen some rough rushing performances before, but the Packers this year are taking it to a whole new level. Being dead last in the league with only 359 total rushing yards is a stark indictment of their current backfield situation. It is an experiment in real time: do running backs even matter? The current lineup has struggled to do the one thing a ballcarrier is supposed to do: perform as expected. This isn’t just about gaining extra yards, it’s about gaining the yards *they should have gotten*.
Rushing Yards Over Expected Tells the Whole Ugly Story
This is where the advanced stats paint the grimmest picture. Rushing Yards Over Expected, or RYOE, is a wild stat born from the 2020 Big Data Bowl. It crunches historical data to tell you exactly how many yards a ballcarrier *should* gain on any given play, considering the down, distance, and field position. And for the Packers’ non-quarterback ballcarriers? They have produced a staggering -116 RYOE this year. Think about that: they’re not just failing to gain extra yards, they are consistently losing yards they were *expected* to get. MarShawn Lloyd alone is responsible for -75 RYOE, and Chris Brooks, bless his heart, leads the team with a grand total of one (1) RYOE.
If you could just magically erase that -116 RYOE, adding those lost yards back to their total, the Packers would instantly jump from dead last to a tie for 29th. That’s how much of a difference simply performing as expected would make. Jacobs, an inside grinder known for hitting the designed hole hard and correctly, is the guy who can, at the very least, be a net neutral on the ground. Even with the Packers’ run blocking being what it is (and it has been bad), there are countless plays where their current backs just fail to go where they are supposed to. Jacobs’ ability to simply follow the play as designed, gaining what he is expected to get and nothing more, would be a dramatic and significant improvement for this struggling rushing game.
This weekend, all eyes will be on Jacobs. Can he be the guy to finally get this Packers run game moving forward, even if he simply performs as expected? The stakes are clear: getting out of the league’s cellar, even if it’s only by a few spots, hinges on him hitting the hole. It’s a low bar, but for the Packers, it’s their best shot at avoiding being the league’s punching bag on the ground.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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