Josh Jacobs looks to extend his rushing TD streak to 12 games when Packers visit Browns

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Green Bay's Josh Jacobs would put himself in an elite group of running backs if he reaches the end zone on Sunday at Cleveland.

Jacobs could become the fifth back in NFL history to rush for a touchdown in 12 straight games, including the playoffs.

“I don’t really know too much about it,” Jacobs said Thursday about the streak. “It’s definitely a great honor, but I don’t really too much dig into it or look into it. I’m more concerned with wins or losses, for real.”

The last player with a 12-game run of rushing TDs was LaDainian Tomlinson for the San Diego Chargers in 2004.

The others to do it were John Riggins (15 straight in 1983), Emmitt Smith (14 in 1995 and 13 from 1994-95) and George Rogers (13 in 1985-86).

The Browns are allowing 2.1 yards per carry and have held opposing ballcarriers to no gain or negative yardage on 10 of 36 designed runs. That 27.8% rate is fourth highest in the league. The Packers have been stuffed on only seven carries, a rate of 14.3% that's sixth lowest in the NFL.

“He’s a very powerful runner. He runs with a lot of effort, too, and so for us it’s the first guy in being able to hold him up and then we got to rally to the ball,” Browns rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger said.

Jacobs and the Packers are seeking their first 3-0 start since 2020. Green Bay hasn’t trailed in either of its games and has built 17-3 leads in wins over Detroit and Washington. Jordan Love has not thrown an interception in his last eight regular-season games.

“I think we’re always confident. Every week is obviously a new journey. First road game, so it’s gonna be a test,” Love said.

Cleveland is 0-2 for the first time since 2017, when it became the second team in NFL history to go 0-16. The Browns have held the lead for only 4 minutes, 32 seconds — fourth-lowest in the league — and that happened in their opener against the Bengals.

While the Packers are rolling in all three phases, the Browns have struggled on offense and special teams, despite the defense allowing the fewest yards in the league.

Last week at Baltimore, a blocked punt and pair of turnovers resulted in 21 points for the Ravens and a 41-17 loss.

“You have to stay on the field and score points, and certainly have not scored enough points the last couple games. And it’s really incumbent on us as a team to play complementary team ball,” coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Of course, we would like to play well on all three sides of the ball, and there’s opportunities to always do that, but we have to play really good, complementary team ball.”

Sunday's matchup features two of the league's best pass rushers in All-Pros Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons. Since Parsons came into the league in 2021, Garrett has an NFL-best 63 1/2 sacks, while Parsons is fifth with 54.

Garrett is tied for the league sack lead with New Orleans' Carl Granderson at 3 1/2, tied for fifth with five quarterback hits and tied for 11th with nine QB pressures.

“He’s a game-wrecker. Yeah, you’ve got to be really intentional about what you’re trying to get done, because if you have a bad matchup, forget about it. This guy can make it ugly in a hurry," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.

Parsons' snaps have been limited since he was acquired from Dallas on Aug. 27, but he has 1 1/2 sacks and is tied for fifth with 11 pressures.

“We have to expect him to be anywhere. He could be off the ball. He can be on either side, he can be up the middle. So, there’s really no telling on where they can utilize him, especially in a small sample size,” Stefanski said.

Green Bay tight end Tucker Kraft hurt his knee in practice Thursday.

Kraft had six catches for a career-high 124 yards last week and has scored a touchdown in each of Green Bay’s first two games. If Kraft is unable to play, it likely would result in more playing time for Luke Musgrave, who has three catches for 36 yards this season.

Wide receiver Jayden Reed is out with a broken collarbone. That could mean more opportunities for rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden and third-round selection Savion Williams. Neither player caught a pass against the Commanders.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in that receiver room who can step up, who’ve played a lot of good minutes and this won’t be their first time getting in there,” Love said. “So just got to keep leaning on those other guys and guys got to step up and keep making plays, but we got a deep receiver room, so it won’t be too big of an issue.”

Joe Flacco has been responsible for all four of the Browns' turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble). Flacco has also struggled to find any semblance of a downfield passing game, going 11 of 28 on throws of at least 10 air yards. Flacco's 70.1 passer rating on downfield throws is fourth worst of QBs who have played two games.

“He understands the way we’re built and how we want to have success. So, it’s something we continue to reiterate and, you don’t want to stifle him to make throws and make good plays,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said. “But you want him to recognize, for any player, like, ‘Hey, these are the looks that we want those big plays to occur. When we don’t get that, this is the answer.’”

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AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

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