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.
Packers Clips
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.
Jets first-round pick Omar Cooper appears set to miss some time after injuring his ankle in the team’s Week 1 win over the Titans.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Cooper is considered week-to-week after an MRI showed he suffered a sprain. Rapoport adds that the hope is that he is able to return within the next four weeks, which suggests that the wide receiver is not considered a candidate for injured reserve as that move would rule him out for at least four games.
Cooper made one catch before leaving Sunday’s win and the 30-yard gain set up the first touchdown in their 23-10 victory.
Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Isaiah Williams, and Arian Smith are the other wideouts on the Jets’ 53-man roster.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love was pressured relentlessly by the Vikings’ defense in Sunday’s 39-22 loss, and Matt LaFleur said after watching the film that the pass protection needed to be a lot better.
“I saw some of the things we have to clean up,” LaFleur said. “What’s disappointing is, we had a few protection busts that should not and cannot happen. We knew that was the challenge going in. They were gonna give some tough looks. That’s the toughest test you’re going to face Week 1, to play that defense in that environment. I thought there was some really good stuff, but when your quarterback gets hit 15 times, that’s too many times. There are some things we could do schematically that we’ve got to do a better job with and there are some things we have to go out and execute. But we have to have everybody on the same page if we want to give ourselves a chance.”
LaFleur also noted that the Packers’ passing game had several explosive plays when they took advantage of the Vikings’ blitzing. Love finished with 387 passing yards and an impressive average of 18.4 yards per completion, but ultimately the Vikings’ defense got to Love too often.
“We had some great moments when we feasted on it, certainly, but at the end of the game when we needed to make plays, they did what they do,” LaFleur said.
What the Vikings do under defensive coordinator Brian Flores is relentlessly pressure the quarterback, and that happened a lot on Sunday.
Wide receiver Bo Melton is back on the 53-man roster in Green Bay.
Melton was released late last week and re-signed to the practice squad ahead of Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. He was elevated to play in the game and saw action on both offense and special teams.
Melton caught one pass for 10 yards and returned four kickoffs over the course of the afternoon. That was his 39th appearance with the Packers since joining the team in December 2022.
The Packers also announced that they have released long snapper Scott Daly from the practice squad. Daly did not take part in Sunday’s loss.
Packers safety Javon Bullard got a 15-yard penalty for the hit that knocked Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray out of Sunday’s game. Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill thinks Bullard should have gotten more than that.
O’Neill shoved Bullard after that hit, but after the game he said he wishes he had been more aggressive toward the opponent who just gave his quarterback a concussion.
“It was so bang, bang,” O’Neill said, via ESPN. “You don’t want to freak out if you’re wrong. I was probably wrong to not freak out more than that. So I kind of wish I took a shot at him.”
Bullard easily could have been ejected for the hit, and he’ll surely at least be fined by the NFL, if not suspended. But he escaped the Vikings dishing out any justice on the field, something that O’Neill regrets about Sunday’s game.
Late in the third quarter of Sunday’s Week 1 game at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Packers controlled the game, with a 22-10 lead.
Then came the latest melting of the cheese.
The Vikings scored the final 29 points of the game, becoming the first team who trailed by 12 or more with less than 20 minutes left in a game to win by 17 or more points.
It’s the most recent example of a very troubling trend for the Packers.
In last year’s wild-card game against the Bears, the Packers led at the half, 21-3. They were then outscored 28-6 in the second half before losing 31-27.
In Week 17 against the Ravens, the Packers trailed by three points after three quarters, 27-24. The Ravens outscored Green Bay in the final 15 minutes, 14-0.
In Week 16 against the Bears, Green Bay led by 10 after three quarters, 13-3. The Packers were outscored in the fourth quarter and OT, 19-3.
In Week 15 at Denver, the Packers led 23-14 in the second half. The Broncos outscored them the rest of the way, 20-3.
Much of it relates to the absence of linebacker Micah Parsons. The offense has had a hand in it, too. As Chris Simms pointed out on Monday’s PFT Live, the Packers often empty the tank with the best stuff in their game plan early, and then they don’t have answers as the game continues.
Whatever the reason, it has become a problem for the Packers. On Sunday, it robbed them of the opportunity to wrest a road win against the division rival who had lost its starting quarterback. Instead, the Vikings staged a dramatic turnaround that will leave the Packers searching for answers.
The good news is that they play the Jets on Sunday. If the Packers blow that one, there will be nothing good about the early weeks of their season.
The Packers continued a run of late-game meltdowns in Minnesota on Sunday afternoon and one of head coach Matt LaFleur’s decision loomed large as they went from leading the Vikings to an 0-1 record.
LaFleur opted to accept an offside penalty after Trey Smack made a field goal that would have extended Green Bay’s lead to eight points with just over 13 minutes left to play. The decision resulted in no points when Jordan Love was stopped on a quarterback sneak and the Vikings would score 22 straight points to run away with a 39-22 win.
“I think that’s just we’re going to be aggressive,” LaFleur said in his postgame press conference. “It was going to be an eight-point game. If it would have been a two-possession game, I probably would have thought otherwise. But I thought we had a chance. We didn’t do very well in the red zone. . . . Sometimes you live and die by that, but we’re gonna be aggressive and we’re gonna try to go for the throat in that situation.”
Those kinds of decisions have haunted the Packers on a run that dates back to last season. They’ve lost six straight games overall and they’ve held two score leads in four of those games, including the 22-10 lead they once held before the roof caved in on Sunday. There have been different reasons for each of the losses, but the inability to finish ultimately lands on LaFleur every time.
“I think it’s going to be a topic of conversation for all you guys until we do it,” LaFleur said. “That’s the bottom line.”
It will be a topic of conversation for many people as the Packers try to put an end to their streak against the Jets in Week 2.
