The Las Vegas Raiders leaned on Josh Jacobs to secure their first victory of the season, a 32-23 win over the Denver Broncos.
After a pass-heavy game plan through the first three losses, Vegas pounded the rock with Jacobs, who set a career high with 144 rushing yards on 28 carries with two touchdowns.
“He’s one of the best runners that I’ve ever been around,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said of Jacobs, via AL.com. “Take that for what it’s worth. I’ve been around some good ones. He has a great ability to make yards after contact. He has a great ability to make yards even if there’s not a lot there right away.”
Jacobs has silenced the preseason questions about his role in the offense.
The back was a bulldozer, pummeling through arm tackles carry after carry on Sunday. Per Next Gen Stats, Jacobs had 18 totes for 110 yards (6.1 yards per carry) and two TDs on runs inside the tackles, his first career game with 100-plus rushing yards between the tackles.
“What’s crazy is I know when I’m in the zone because everything slows down, and it feels almost like I’m running slow,” Jacobs said. “But then I look at the film and I’m like, ‘OK, I did what I was supposed to do.’ But, like, a lot of times I know when I’m in the zone because a guy hits me, I don’t even feel him.”
The Raiders entered Sunday 0-3, a record that includes Vegas blowing a 20-point lead to Arizona in Week 2. Jacobs wouldn’t let them lose the lead again.
After Denver closed the gap to 25-23 with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Vegas saddled Jacobs on a 10-play, 75-yard TD drive that put the game away. Jacobs touched the ball on five of the final seven snaps of the drive, including a 7-yard score.
“When it came to the end of the game, I knew we had another possession where we would need to get a first down and do whatever we do,” Jacobs said. "And I just went over there and talked to the guys. I’m like, ‘This is what we do. We ask for this.’ The last few weeks we’d been in this same position and it didn’t go how we wanted it to. It felt good to come together as a unit and accomplish the goal that we set out to do.”
Jacobs has loved playing the Broncos. He’s recorded three 100-plus rushing yard games against Denver -- the only team in which the back has multiple 100-yard games. It also marked his fourth game with two-plus rushing TDs against the Broncos, second-most all-time versus Denver, behind only LaDainian Tomlinson (7).
“They say something about rivals: They bring the best out of you,” Jacobs said. “I guess that’s what it tends to do for me.”