Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs produced one of “Incredible YAC” plays of the 2024 season. Next Gen Stats generates “Incredible YAC” plays by calculating expected yards after the catch (YAC) and the YAC over expectation to produce the top individual performances.
The idea is simple: Gaining 10 yards after the catch when you make a catch in wide open space isn’t that difficult for an NFL player. But if that player has to break a bunch of tackles to gain yards after the catch? That’s beating expectation.
Jacobs’ impressive 49-yard catch during the fourth quarter of the Packers’ Thanksgiving Night win over the Miami Dolphins just barely cracked the top 20 “Incredible YAC” plays of the regular season.
Here’s the catch-and-run from Jacobs, who got away from a trailing defender and then made one hellacious juke move on a linebacker in space to create an explosive play on a checkdown from Jordan Love:
With a defender within a yard of him at the catch and another closing in from the middle of the field, Next Gen Stats estimated only five yards after the catch on Jacobs’ catch. Instead, he gained almost 47, giving him 42 yards after the catch over the expectation — ranking 20th among all players during the 2024 season.
The Pro Bowl running back was one of the hardest players in football to tackle in 2024.
Jacobs also produced one of the “Remarkable Rushes” of the postseason. In the second half against the Eagles, Jacobs turned what looked to be a short gain into an explosive 31-yard run that set up the Packers’ first and only touchdown. Per Next Gen Stats, Jacobs gained 26 yards over the expectation on the run.
You can find that run at roughly the 1:00 mark of the video below: