3 takeaways Packers must use on NFL Thanksgiving from 49ers win

It had to have felt good for the 8-3 Green Bay Packers to exact some amount of revenge against the San Francisco 49ers. Nothing will take away the fact that the 49ers have dominated them in the playoffs as of late — including last season when the 49ers dropped the Packers in the Divisional Round thanks to two Jordan Love interceptions — but a 38-10 win at Lambeau Field is hard to argue against.

Sure, the 49ers were without Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa and several other key members, but you don’t apologize for wins in the NFL — especially when you took care of business. That’s exactly what the Packers did as well. They won the time of possession battle, 36:43 to 23:17, the turnover battle, three-zero, and they rushed for 169 yards on San Francisco’s normally stout defense.

Was it perfect? No. The Packers are a playoff contender but they’re certainly a flawed playoff contender.

With that said, there are several takeaways head coach Matt LaFleur and his staff can use for Green Bay’s next game. A quick Thanksgiving night turnaround against the 5-6 Miami Dolphins at Lambeau Field.

Packers need to trust Josh Jacobs to carry the load 

Josh Jacobs was an All-Pro in 2022 for the Las Vegas Raiders after rushing 340 times for 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns. He proved then that he can be a “workhorse” back and he put that ability on full display again against the 49ers in Week 12. In fact, Tom Brady used that exact phrase to describe Jacobs during the broadcast: “workhorse”.

Jacobs was given the ball 26 times as a rusher and he turned those touches into 106 yards and three touchdowns on a healthy 4.1 yards per carry. The most important takeaway in this game though, was that all of Jacobs’ touchdowns came in the red zone.

The Packers have struggled in the red zone this season but even a layman can see that it has been because LaFleur tends to overthink his play calls instead of doing what he knows works. What has worked for the Packers in 2024 is giving Jacobs the football and letting him use his unique blend of strength and agility to keep the chains moving. He’s especially tough to stop near the goal line because he’s always falling forward, and the 49ers found that out the hard way —three times.

Expect LaFleur to use the same formula against the Dolphins, especially since the temperature in Green Bay is supposed to be below freezing on Thanksgiving night.

 Packers need to keep going to Christian Watson 

This may seem a bit counterintuitive considering the game Watson had against the 49ers, but the Packers need to make sure that he gets plenty of targets against the Dolphins. The big moment against San Francisco was, of course, his wide open drop that went viral. Lost in the sauce of that play, though, was the fact that Watson beat his defender by a solid three to four yards.

That’s incredible separation at the NFL level, and Watson is one of the only receivers in the league who can do that. One of the others is Tyreek Hill, who the Packers will have a hard time stopping themselves on Thursday night.

Watson has proven to be streaky in his career, but as long as he’s getting open like that, Love needs to keep throwing him the football. He’s had some prolific drops in his career but he’s also made some big catches. Odds are, he’s going to get open against the Dolphins. The odds suggest he’s likely to catch the next big ball thrown his way as well. Keep in mind, that was Watson’s first drop of the season.

“It’s a (crappy) feeling, but it’s another one of those — mistakes are going to happen in a game, you’re going to have a negative play. You just have to find a way to move on,” Watson said after the game. “Definitely down in that moment, but just try to visualize myself back into it, visualize the play again with me catching the ball and hoping it goes my way next time.”

Packers must be aggressive with Quay Walker against Dolphins 

Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins know how to light up the stat sheet. Tagovailoa threw for four touchdowns in Miami’s 34-15 win over the New England Patriots in Week 12 and he’s thrown for seven compared to no interceptions over his past two games. He is dangerous as a runner when the play breaks down, but the best way to disrupt a good offense is to put it under pressure, and that’s where Quay Walker comes in for the Packers.

Walker was one of Green Bay’s first round picks in 2022 and though he is supremely talented physically, he’s struggled to put it all together at the NFL level so far when it comes to reading and reacting. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley asked him to do less reading and reacting against the 49ers though, and instead used him as a blitzer a few times and also put him in a good position to make plays in space.

Hafley schemed Walker into a game that saw him notch seven tackles, two stuffs and a pass defended (which should have been an interception). IF the Packers remain aggressive with the way they use Walker, he should be able to help neutralize all of Miami’s athleticism on offense.