Green Bay center Josh Myers (71) vomited at one point Sunday, but hung tough and helped the Packers … [+]
Matt LaFleur asked Green Bay’s offensive line to leave it all on the field Sunday.
Josh Myers did just that — and then some.
Late in the second quarter of the Packers’ eventual 16-10 win over Indianapolis, Myers vomited before snapping the ball to quarterback Malik Willis.
Aside from that, though, Green Bay’s dominant offensive line — and the Packers’ running game — left the Colts feeling ill.
Josh Jacobs ran for 151 yards and Green Bay piled up 261 rushing yards, including a remarkable 237 in the first half. The Packers averaged 4.9 yards per carry and ran the ball on an incredible 53 of 67 offensive plays — a whopping 79.1 percent.
Green Bay needed an effort like that, too, as it played without franchise quarterback Jordan Love, who missed the game with a sprained MCL.
“As an offensive line coming in, we knew we were going to run the ball 50-plus times,” Myers said. “(Coach) Matt (LaFleur) challenged us very early on in the week. He challenged our group and said it was going to go through us and I feel like we answered that challenge and had a solid day, man. That was some grimy football right there. That was a lot of fun.”
Green Bay had all sorts of fun — except for the one snap where Myers lost his breakfast.
The Packers had a third-and-10 late in the second quarter when Myers was getting ready to snap the ball to Willis. Myers knew what was coming — or coming up — and he leaned over the ball and lost a pound or two.
The problem is he didn’t keep the ball completely clean and Willis was left holding the mess. So instead of throwing a pass, Willis took off for a 3-yard run.
“I asked Malik why he didn’t throw the ball on third down, and he told me that, ‘Josh threw up on the ball,’ ” LaFleur said. “I was like, ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.’
“Matter of fact, the official came over to me, Shawn (Hochuli) came over to me and said, ‘We saw your center throwing up on the ball, do you want us to take him out next time?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, please do that.’ Because you’re talking about a critical situation, and it’s third down, and I’ve never had a throw with vomit on a football. I think Malik probably didn’t appreciate that.”
Willis and LaFleur appreciated everything else about Green Bay’s sensational ground game.
Green Bay’s 261 rushing yards were its most in a game since Dec. 28, 2003, when the Packers ran for 262 yards against Denver.
Green Bay ran for 237 yards on 34 carries (7.0 avg.) in the first half, the first time dating back to 1978 that it rushed
for 200-plus yards in either half (per the Elias Sports Bureau). The 237 yards were the third most in a first half by an NFL
team since 2000, trailing only Jacksonville (251 yards on Dec. 10, 2006) and Carolina (240 yards on Dec. 24, 2022).
The Packers rushed for 164 yards on 20 carries (8.2) in the first quarter, the most by Green Bay in any quarter since it rushed for 166 yards in the third quarter at the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 29, 1985 (Elias Sports Bureau). The last NFL
team to rush for that many yards in the first quarter of a game was the Denver Broncos (167 yards on Dec. 18, 2011).
Green Bay also posted eight explosive runs (12-plus yards) in the first half, the most by an NFL team in a first half since New England recorded eight vs. Buffalo on Dec. 23, 2018. The Packers’ nine explosive runs on the game were their most in the LaFleur-era.
“I think the big boys did a great job, no doubt,” Willis said. “Almost 250 yards in the first half, that’s insane. They just made it easy on us and just made me have to go out and be really efficient more than go out and have to win it myself.”
While Jacobs was outstanding and Willis added 41 rushing yards of his own, the Packers’ offensive line of Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Myers, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom shined the brightest in this game. Tight end Tucker Kraft was also terrific in the run game, while guard Jordan Morgan — who shares time with Rhyan — was solid before suffering a second quarter shoulder injury.
“We just came in with the mindset that we were going to have to run the ball to win the game,” Jenkins said. “I feel like we did that. I feel like we really left some yards out on the field.
“We were trying to go for 3(00) or 400 but it didn’t happen. Big ups to them, for sure, though. We came in with the right mindset to get the job done. We left some stuff out on the field, but we’re going to correct all that and be better next week.”
No one left behind more than Myers — who helped Green Bay’s offensive line produce a day for the ages.
