The Packers, like half the league after Week 1, are 0-1. But their loss to Minnesota extends a bigger problem.
Green Bay has now lost six games in a row, including playoffs. A loss to the Jets on Sunday would match the team’s longest losing streak of the Super Bowl era.
They’ve lost seven in a row five times. This would be the first since 1990-91, the final two years before the dawn of the Favre era.
The Packers also are trying to avoid an 0-2 start. That last happened to Green Bay in 2006. In fact, the Packers are the only team in the entire league to avoid an 0-2 start since 2007.
Should the Packers beat the Jets? Yes. If it doesn’t happen, nerves will be frayed for the home opener next Thursday night against the Falcons.
A week after the judge presiding over the criminal case involving Packers running back Josh Jacobs signed an order temporarily sealing the evidence (including a video of the altercation that prompted a misdemeanor battery charge), the judge declined to sign an order that would have sealed the evidence permanently.
Via Fox 11, the judge rejected a proposed order on procedural grounds, concluding it was in an “improper format.”
A hearing on the issue has been set for next Thursday. At that point, the judge could decide to grant the request, made by the victim’s lawyer, to permanently seal the evidence.
The NFL wants to see the video, as part of the effort to determine the proper discipline to be imposed on Jacobs under the Personal Conduct Policy. The league’s inability to get access to the video underscores the flaws in its in-house justice system.
The NFL doesn’t have the power that a court of law possesses. It can’t compel witnesses to cooperate. It can’t subpoena records. It possibly will be stymied by a court order blocking access to important evidence.
The league should nevertheless attempt to secure the ability to review the video, subject to the requirement of a protective order. It’s possible to balance the victim’s privacy rights with the NFL’s desire to ensure that it has the ability to effectively and accurately assess a proper penalty on Jacobs.
Jacobs remains on paid leave while the NFL considers the proper suspension to be imposed.
The Jets added a key defensive contributor to their injury report on Thursday.
Linebacker Will McDonald was listed as a limited practice participant due to an ankle injury. McDonald had a sack in last Sunday’s win over the Titans and had 18.5 sacks over the last two seasons.
Wide receiver Omar Cooper (ankle), safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (groin), running back Kene Nwangwu (back), and linebacker Joseph Ossai (foot) remained out of practice. All four players are called week-to-week, which suggests they’ll miss Sunday’s game against the Packers.
Rookie cornerback D’Angelo Ponds (calf) and linebacker Jamien Sherwood (knee) moved up to full participation. Ponds did not play in Tennessee, so this Sunday’s game would be his NFL debut. Cornerback Jarvis Brownlee (shoulder) and defensive lineman David Onyemata (rest) were also full participants.
Jets safety Minkah Fitzpatrick did not practice on Monday and his outlook for Sunday’s game against the Packers doesn’t look too good.
Head coach Aaron Glenn called Fitzpatrick week-to-week as a result of the groin injury that knocked him out during the first half of last Sunday’s 23-10 win over the Titans. The team won’t issue injury designations until Friday, but that framing suggests there’s little chance he’ll be on the field before Week 3.
That’s also the case for wide receiver Omar Cooper, who did not practice due to an ankle injury. Linebacker Joseph Ossai (foot), running back Kene Nwangwu (back), and defensive lineman David Onyemata (rest) were the other Jets out of practice.
Cornerback D’Angelo Ponds (calf) and linebacker Jamien Sherwood (knee) were listed as limited participants. Cornerback Jarvis Brownlee (shoulder) was a full participant.
Previously, lawyers representing Packers running back Josh Jacobs filed a motion seeking to keep evidence in his criminal case from being released to the public. The victim in the case has now done the same thing.
But while the current order is temporary in nature, the new motion filed on behalf of Jacobs’s former girlfriend seeks to have the evidence in the case — including a key video — permanently sealed.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN, her lawyers said Tuesday that the motion “is consistent with our client’s desire to protect her privacy.”
The motion complicates the NFL’s effort to obtain the video. On Sunday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said that the league is “trying all sorts of legal maneuvers” to get the video.
One fairly direct maneuver would be to file an opposition to the motion, with a request for a limited opportunity to inspect the video subject to the requirements of a strict and comprehensive confidentiality order. And the league should ask Jacobs to join in the effort.
Common sense suggests that the harder Jacobs tries to keep the league from seeing the video, the worse to his ongoing career it may be. If the league decides to take an aggressive approach to the situation, the league could tell Jacobs that he’ll remain on paid leave until the league processes his disciplinary case — and that the case won’t be processed until the NFL sees the video.
