• Green Bay RB claims gesture was an ode to gospel song

• Jacobs pleaded no contest to battery charges last month

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs says he was paying homage to a gospel song rather than making light of his recent arrest when he briefly had his hands behind his back while celebrating a touchdown Thursday night.

This was Jacobs’s second game of the season after coming off the commissioner’s exempt list. He was placed on that list after charges were filed against him in August stemming from a May altercation with his then-girlfriend during which she said he threw her to the ground.

• Carolina Panthers 19-27 Green Bay Packers

• Packers WR has 113 receiving yards despite injury

Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, Josh Jacobs scored twice and the Green Bay Packers withstood three turnovers to beat the Carolina Panthers 27-19 on Thursday night.

Love went 30 of 41 for 288 yards with touchdown passes to Tucker Kraft, Matthew Golden and Jacobs plus an interception. Although he rushed for only 39 yards on 21 carries against the NFL’s lowest-ranked run defense, Jacobs scored on a four-yard catch and one-yard run for the Packers (5-3).

Research looked at prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2,362 players who died in 2008-2023

A new study published on Wednesday estimates that about 75% of former NFL players who died over a 15-year period had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The research, published in Jama Network Open and conducted by a Boston-based team, examined the estimated prevalence of the degenerative brain disease among NFL players who died from 2008 through 2023. Researchers found that the estimated rate of CTE among these players was substantially higher than the rates observed in brain samples collected from the general population.