GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Josh Jacobs had the most succinct comeback for each reason his Green Bay Packers faced long odds to win Sunday.
He used the same two words for each one.
No Jordan Love , who was out with a knee injury.
Who. Cares.
He was going to have to run the ball more than any Packers running back in 16 years.
Who. Cares.
It was one of the hottest days ever for a game at Lambeau Field.
Who. Cares.
In case he needed a reminder, he got one every time he took off his gloves during Sunday's 16-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts .
Inside his left glove was the word "WHO." And inside his right was the word "CARES."
"I always tell myself, man, when it's certain situations, I just look at like it's work," Jacobs said. "On the inside of my gloves, it says 'Who. Cares.' To me, that phrase and them two words mean a lot just because at the end of the day, don't nobody really care. You've got to put your head down and get results, and that's what this business is."
Jacobs happily showed off those embroidered gloves after the Packers (1-1) put the ball in his hands 32 times, and he turned it into 151 rushing yards.
"Who cares that the odds are against you, that you don't got your starting quarterback?" Jacobs said. "Just make it happen."
Never before had Packers coach Matt LaFleur used a running back like this. Aaron Jones never carried more than 25 times during his seven seasons in Green Bay. Then again, never before had LaFleur been forced to play a quarterback like Malik Willis , who was acquired by the Packers less than three weeks ago and was tasked with throwing only 14 passes in the game .
Other than a fumble at the Colts' 1-yard line early in the second quarter, when one more yard would have given the Packers a 16-0 lead, Jacobs did everything LaFleur could have wanted. And everything general manager Brian Gutekunst envisioned this offseason, when he moved on from Jones and signed the former Raiders running back to a four-year, $48 million contract.
Jacobs' 151 yards were his third most in any game of his six-year career. His 32 rush attempts were the most by a Packers player since Ryan Grant had 33 against the Seahawks in 2008.
"That's unbelievable at this level, that many runs," Packers center Josh Myers said. "He's got to be exhausted. The hits those guys take, I know he's just got to be feeling it."
Actually, at his locker after the game, it looked like Jacobs had barely broken a sweat despite it being the second-hottest kickoff temperature in Lambeau Field history at 85 degrees.
"Man, honest, I feel like I could play another half," Jacobs said. "It was hot, it was hot, especially in warmups. But bodywise, I feel good, man. I told them, I don't think I've ever had a game where I came out kind of like this clean. So I feel good."
Jacobs said it reminded him of the heat he used to train in at home in Oklahoma -- a humid, sunny, sticking kind of heat.
Perhaps it helped Jacobs that he knew well before the game he would need to prepare for a gigantic workload. LaFleur reiterated that plan in every offensive meeting last week, assuming Love was not going to play.
"I already knew what it was going to look like," Jacobs said. "So for me, it was one of them things where I just tried to come in and not exert too much energy in pregame and just get my mind right for the task at hand."
LaFleur banked on Jacobs' workhorse-like history with the Raiders, where he had 13 games with 26 or more rushes over five seasons.
In all, the Packers ran the ball 53 times for 261 yards and ran by design on 76% of their plays against the Colts, according to ESPN Research. Only one team in the past 10 seasons had a higher designed-run percentage in a game: the 2021 Patriots, who ran by design 94% of the time in extreme winds in Buffalo.
"He told us that we were going to run the ball. He was going to lean on us and we were probably going to run the ball 40, 50 times," Packers left guard Elgton Jenkins said of LaFleur's plan. "I feel like we came out with the right mindset to get the job done."
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