The Denver Broncos have done their share of losing over the last eight years. It's been a brutal road since Super Bowl 50, including a recent losing streak against the Las Vegas Raiders that extends back the last four years. So right now, the Broncos have no room to talk when it comes to their losing streak against the Raiders, but it's still nice to hear someone like Josh Jacobs make the kinds of comments he did recently in an interview with former NFL player Chris Long.
Jacobs basically called out the Raiders for trying to get him to take a discount to stay in Las Vegas, as well as a culture of losing that was just seemingly accepted by the team.
Going from the success of Alabama to the Raiders struggles, Josh Jacobs couldn't believe players were "cool with losing."@iAM_JoshJacobs | @JOEL9ONE pic.twitter.com/5hfPTSmzGg
— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) June 7, 2024
Here's his full quote at the end of this clip that will really make you raise your eyebrows in shock:
"I'm like, 'Man, y'all want me to come back on a discount and lose?' Like, I don't know how I feel about that."Josh Jacobs
Jacobs signed a four-year contract with the Green Bay Packers this offseason, joining a team that has one of the richest traditions of winning in the entire NFL. So at least he isn't being hypocritcal and just joining the team that offered him the most money. He went to a really great situation and signed with one of the top up-and-coming teams in the entire NFL.
What Jacobs said in this interview, if I can even defend the Raiders for a moment, is a little unfair. Coming into the NFL out of Alabama where you're competing for a title every year is an unfair curve to grade on. Not every team in the NFL is raking in two dozen of the best players in the country every single offseason. The level of competition is much different, and losing when you get to the professional level is much more common than not.
To me, players coming in from programs like Alabama or Georgia (or whatever other powerhouse you want to name drop) should be trained with the expectation that winning is not going to come easy in the NFL. Winning is extremely difficult in the first place, but winning consistently is even more rare.
I don't know that Jacobs should have had that kind of mindset over four years, but it's also unacceptable to have a culture of accepting losing. If you're a professional football team, you need to create and instill a culture that hates losing more than it loves winning. Winning is the name of the game, and being okay with losing is not something anyone wants to be part of, regardless if you played at Alabama under Nick Saban or if you were discovered out of a losing program at the FCS level.
For Denver Broncos fans, this statement made by Jacobs is cathartic because a player who was inside that locker room the last four years is accusing the team of being okay with losing, essentially. Not to mention the fact that they offered their All-Pro running back a low-ball contract.
Hopefully, the Broncos can figure out a way to end their losing streak against the Raiders in 2024, because what Jacobs is saying here is one of the most difficult reasons that particular streak has been so difficult to swallow.