Packers’ Josh Jacobs on Miami: “The guys looked like they were cold out there”

The Miami Dolphins came to Lambeau Field on Thursday night with a mission to “destroy narratives” that the NFL team can’t win in cold weather. Instead, it snowed and the Dolphins lost to the Green Bay Packers 30-17.

When Miami beat the New England Patriots 34-15 at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida on Sunday, the temperature was 77 degrees at kickoff. When the Dolphins played Wisconsin on Thanksgiving, the thermometer read 50 degrees colder.

So even though the side of the game expected to be most affected by the weather – Miami’s passing attack – boasts strong stats, the Dolphins will be tagged “you can’t win in the cold” as they conclude their regular season schedule with away games against the Cleveland Browns on December 29th and New York Jets on January 5th.

“Man, those guys looked like they were cold out there,” Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs said, “so we were ready to go.”

Jacobs isn’t exactly a veteran of the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, either. He is playing his first season with Green Bay after arriving in free agency from the Las Vegas Raiders in March.

“It actually wasn’t that bad,” Jacobs said of the weather. “It was pretty cold after halftime. I think it’s because you’re pretty wet and you’re going out again. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”

Miami coach Mike McDaniel said he didn’t think the cold had anything to do with the Dolphins’ loss, but also knew his team couldn’t shake the warm-weather winner label.

““You carry that until you do something about it,” McDaniel said, “and unfortunately we didn’t do it tonight.”

Miami had 10 penalties, and the NFL’s Next Gen Stats said the Dolphins missed 20 tackles in the game, giving the Packers an additional 132 yards.

“The weather and the cold wasn’t as important to me as it was playing football and the technique and the fundamentals of how we bring our feet together and get our hips into tackles and finishing,” McDaniel said. “I think the most important thing is that for a Thursday night game you have to be clean on a short week and we didn’t do that. As far as punishments go, they were much cleaner. Just in terms of our style of play, how much we complemented each other, especially in the last game, we weren’t that good tonight and I thought they made us pay for that.

“For example, on the first drive you hit a three-pointer to get the ball back and the special teams turnover was seven points. A turnover on downs at the 1-yard line equaled seven points. That’s 14 points in a 13-point game. …

“We didn’t fail to grab the ball before the game was delayed or make a false start due to the cold. I think the tape will show that when we watch it (Monday). But like anything else, if you’re trying to achieve anything in this league, you have to overcome it at some point, so that narrative – like good teams, etc. etc., correlation, causation – will always stick around until you beat it. That’s why I think , that our guys will look forward to training in cold weather at the next opportunity because I think they know they can, need to and want to, so we’ll take advantage of that opportunity when it comes. ”

On the punt that ended the Packers’ first possession, Miami wide receiver Malik Washington failed to handle the football cleanly, and Green Bay recovered the muff at the Dolphins’ 9-yard line to set up the first touchdown.