With just under six minutes left in the third quarter between the Raiders and Texans Sunday, the Raiders lined up in first and goal from the four.
The Texans had just taken back the lead with a field goal. The Raiders had not scored a touchdown in the red zone in this game and a failure would have meant squandering some tough running by Josh Jacobs to get them there.
Derek Carr took the snap, pitched it out left to Jacobs, who saw his lane and went for the end zone. Kolton Miller made the block outside and, without even looking, raised his arms knowing Jacobs was in for the touchdown.
⚠️BEWARE: JOSH IS HUNGRY⚠️
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/tsoasDpCY8
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 23, 2022
“I knew. I knew for sure,” said Miller on the score. “I heard the footsteps. And man I was just running and running and running, glanced back and was like ‘oh yeah, he’s in’.”
The play was the culmination of what had begun brewing on the drive to get there. And finishing it off would prove to be the start of much more as well.
As Jacobs often does — and especially of late — he got stronger as the game got later. He started with 45 yards in the first half and more than doubled that in the second half.
His 143 yards on the day gave him his third straight game over 140 yards rushing and the top three rushing games of his career.
“The dog that he got inside of him,” Davante Adams said of Jacobs. “You got to spend time with a guy to really know the level because there’s a lot of good backs in this league. I’m not taking anything away from anybody else, but the way he runs the ball, the way he wants the ball, he wants to be the guy in those big moments like that and he steps up to the plate.”
His rushing yardage put him in the Raiders record books. The biggest one is surpassing Marcus Allen for the most rushing yards (3688) in his first 50 games in Raiders franchise history.
He also became the first Raiders running back to rush for over 100 yards in three straight games since Napoleon Kaufman in 1997. A feat only five other Raiders backs have ever accomplished.
Yards are great, but it’s touchdowns that win games.
Jacobs had two more touchdowns to give him three in the game. Just an absolutely dominant performance for Jacobs and he pulled up the rest of the team with him.
“His vision is awesome and the way he plays the game is…man, it’s next level,” Miller continued. “We try to make some holes and some good double teams and he just extends it and takes it to that next level. He made history. That’s huge, man. That’s so awesome.”
Jacobs has always been good at breaking tackles, but, as Miller noted, he is on another level right now. And he sees it too.
“I feel like studying film you kind of see certain formations,” Jacobs said when I asked him what he’s seeing on the field. “You see certain guys play and you know your escapes. Every run I have I know I got one or two escapes, like if the play breaks down, I know where I can go possibly. I will say this, KP (running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu), man, me and him sit down and have individual meetings and we go over all the little details, the fine print details of things and I feel like he harps on the details – even when I’m playing good he’s still coming over and be like you still did this and did that and that kind of keeps me where I need to be. That’s all him, I give him credit for that.”
Jacobs also gave some credit to his offensive line while his offensive line, in part for how excited they would get for him when he would break off a big run. And while he would never say this, again, starts with him.
There’s no question the offensive line has a hand in Jacobs finding room to run, but their enthusiasm starts with Jacobs either creating yards when things break down or taking what he’s given and creating even more with it.
“Just having a really good back in the backfield, he makes it easier on us,” said left guard Dylan Parham. “We just hold our blocks, get a hat on a hat, and then he just makes the rest happen. He’s a special player.”
The result is another special game for Jacobs and the Raiders winning two of their last three as a result.
