The Green Bay Packers have been one of the better teams in the NFC throughout the 2024 season. Green Bay finished the regular season with a record of 11-6 but ended up finishing third in the NFC North division standings. The Packers had tough luck that the Lions won 15 games and the Vikings 14 games in the same season.
Now the Packers are preparing for a crucial Wild Card playoff matchup against the Eagles. Packers running back Josh Jacobs praised his former college coach for preparing him for the spotlight.
Jacobs praised Saban for requiring Alabama players to take speech and interpersonal communications classes as freshmen. Jacobs believes that this helped him, and other Alabama players, learn how to speak with the media.
“The thing people don’t know is Saban made every freshman take speech, to be able to talk to the media, we had to take that class,” Jacobs said on Thursday via Packers senior writer Wes Hodkiewicz. “That was something he made every freshman do. He also taught us, [whether] wins or losses, you still have to be a pro and handle things a certain type of way.”
Jacobs clearly thinks that this was a smart thing for Saban to require from his players. Professional athletes, and even college athletes at Alabama, have to perform lots of interviews. That makes it smart to develop solid communication skills right away in college.
Jacobs also expressed that he tries to do his best to make interviews go well for both parties.
“I think that’s probably just stuck with me the longest. Y’all got a job to do too so I try to make it easy for everybody,” Jacobs concluded.
Packers preparing for huge Wild Card matchup against the Eagles
The Packers will need to be road warriors in the playoffs for the second year in a row.
The No. 7 seed Packers will take on the No. 2 seed Eagles on Sunday in a game with a lengthy injury report for both teams.
Green Bay recently lost WR Christian Watson for the season after a brutal injury. They also have a host of players on both sides of the ball who are banged up. This includes QB Jordan Love, who is dealing with a right elbow injury. Love was a full participant in practice on Thursday, which bodes well for his availability this weekend.
Philadelphia also has some significant injuries of their own. QB Jalen Hurts has missed multiple games while on concussion protocol, and his backup Kenny Pickett is dealing with rib injuries. Like Love, Hurts was a full participant in practice on Thursday.
The Packers are likely cooking up a defensive plan to bottle up Eagles RB Saquon Barkley. The Eagles pose much less of a threat if Barkley is unable to pound away easy yards on the ground.
Philadelphia is no slouch passing the football, but may struggle if Hurts is still hobbled on Sunday.
Eagles vs. Packers kicks off at 4:30PM ET on Sunday in Philadelphia.
