Josh Jacobs Returns to Save the Packers' Backfield While Micah Parsons' Knee Keeps Us Waiting

The Green Bay Packers are getting half of their cavalry back, which is great news if you like running the football and terrible news if you were hoping to see opposing quarterbacks run for their lives anytime soon.

According to Tom Pelissero, Josh Jacobs is officially returning as Green Bay's starting running back next week against the Detroit Lions. Meanwhile, Micah Parsons is still nowhere near a practice field and will not see game action until at least November 8 against the New England Patriots.

"Tom Pelissero reported Jacobs will 'immediately return as the Packers’ starting running back next week at Detroit.'"

Getting Jacobs back is a massive swing for a Packers offense trying to keep pace in a loaded NFC North. He is coming off the commissioner's exempt list after rushing for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns in 15 games last season. Dropping a fresh, angry running back into a divisional road game immediately shifts the math for anyone holding Green Bay tickets at the betting window.

The Parsons update is the bitter pill. Green Bay traded a king's ransom to the Dallas Cowboys for him, handed him a massive contract, and watched him rack up 12.5 sacks before tearing his ACL last December.

Waiting for an ACL recovery is like tracking a delayed package on a map. You know it is eventually going to show up, but refreshing the page every five minutes does not make the delivery truck drive any faster. The Packers just have to sit on their hands until November.

For now, Green Bay has to survive a brutal stretch with half of their star power. Jacobs gives them the ground-and-pound identity they desperately need to trade punches with a Detroit team that just hung 45 points on the Arizona Cardinals. But until Parsons is cleared to terrorize backfields again, the Packers' defense is going to have to win the hard way.