Packers running back Josh Jacobs scored a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter of Green Bay’s 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers. He celebrated with a move that instantly reminded fans of his arrest earlier this year. Jacobs now confirms the cameras got only part of the story.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“Yeah, they didn’t even get the whole celebration,” Jacobs told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, per a video on X. “It was just one second that they showed me. But anyways, me and Savion [Williams] came up with a celebration. They would have seen all the celebration.”
After the touchdown, Jacobs put his hands behind his back, and a lot of fans online saw it as a handcuff celebration. The RB said after the game that the celebration was not mirroring a handcuff hold, but an ode to a gospel song “Break Every Chain.”
“Basically, last week, we [Jacobs and Williams] said the first celebration, when I scored, I was gonna thank God, that’s what I did last week. Second was gonna be ‘Break Every Chain,’ it’s a gospel song. That was gonna be the next celebration. It’s just a correlation, but like I said, the media gonna run with it. They gonna make it something that it wasn’t, but it is what it is.”
The reaction was immediate because of what happened in May. Jacobs was arrested after a domestic incident at his Wisconsin home, involving his partner. He later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and criminal property damage. He was convicted on the battery charge and fined $1,000 after reaching a plea deal with his partner.
Jacobs has also been ordered to avoid contact with the victim for 12 months and complete a counseling or treatment course falling in line with a batterer’s intervention program.
The NFL put him on the Commissioner Exempt List, which kept him out for the first six games. He remains under investigation by the league, which will act independently of a court ruling on him.
So far, the league has not announced any discipline for the celebration.
The game itself was a steady one for Green Bay. The Packers led 20-10 at halftime, and Jacobs added a touchdown catch in the third quarter after a Panthers turnover on downs.
Jacobs averaged only 1.9 yards per carry against one of the league’s worst run defense, though he now has three total touchdowns in the two games he has played. He has tallied a total of 75 rushing yards after the Panthers game, and remains crucial to the Packers’ run game.
Green Bay has now won four of their last five games.
Jacobs says the full celebration would have told a different story. For now, the cameras missed it, the internet filled in the blanks, and the league has not weighed in.