Josh Jacobs Making Case For New Contract, Rides The Broncos

Josh Jacobs was the sole emphasis for the Las Vegas Raiders’ running game during Week 11. Jacobs finally surpassed 100 yards for the first time since Week 7 of the season. Jacobs once again carried the Raiders’ entire rushing attack against the Denver Broncos. Let’s analyze Jacobs’ performance and the offensive line in the Raiders’ Week 11 victory.

No Kolton Miller? No problem for Josh Jacobs…

Due to an injury, Raiders starting left tackle Kolton Miller was absent. That meant that the Raiders’ offensive line was missing its best player. This would require the Raiders to start their 12th different offensive line lineup this year. On paper, that seemed like a significant mismatch in favor of the Broncos. However, looking back, the Raiders’ offensive line fared reasonably well. They were doing a decent job of creating spaces for Jacobs to run in, but the outside run plays showed Miller’s absence. Miller is among the most athletic players at his position, which makes him very useful in any run outside the numbers. The Raiders’ offensive line was able to block well enough for Jacobs to run for over 100 yards.

No. 28 wants a new deal

When it comes to football, it all starts with energy, and here is where Jacobs stands apart from the crowd. During pregame warmups, when the running backs were all warming up shirtless on a bitterly chilly Denver day, Jacobs sent a message. The message was that he was here to ball.

Against the Broncos, Jacobs rushed for 109 yards while averaging 4.5 yards per carry. According to Raiders PR, this was Jacobs’ fourth 100-yard rushing game of the year, which ranks third in the NFL. Despite being the lone recipient of a carry and lacking Miller, Jacobs continued to run aggressively. Jacobs’ statistics weren’t very impressive, but he helped the Broncos’ defense deteriorate by rushing for first downs. Unmentioned in the stats is the fact that Jacobs allowed the Raiders to set up their play-action game.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels raved about Jacobs and his abilities after the win in Denver. In particular, McDaniels talked about his endurance and how the coach has changed the way he calls plays because of it.

“He’s got this incredible football endurance about him. He runs in there and takes a bunch of hits. He doesn’t look to the sideline. It took me, honestly, a few weeks to get used to that because you’re normally thinking you’re going to be subbing backs, quite honestly, pretty regularly. I’m used to that from my recent past when we used a lot of different backs.”

Jacobs is making history with the Raiders right now

In his first four seasons with the organization, Jacobs became just the second player in franchise history to surpass 4,000 rushing yards, according to Raiders PR. In addition, this was Jacobs’ 13th 100-yard rushing game with the team, tying him with Darren McFadden for fourth place all-time. Jacobs is currently third this year in rushing yards and tied for fourth in rushing touchdowns thanks to his performance. It’s safe to say that he’s doing a lot more than he’s paid for and should get a new deal in the offseason.