After so much drama in the offseason, Las Vegas Raiders star Josh Jacobs was ultimately able to suit up for his team’s season opener against the Denver Broncos. Las Vegas was able to scrape out a hard-fought victory against a determined Denver side, as Jacobs and Co. secured a 17-16 win to mark their first win of the new season.
Las Vegas Raiders RB Josh Jacobs Speaks on Performance Vs. Broncos
If you ask Jacobs, however, the All-Pro running back isn’t exactly over the moon with his season debut:
“We had a lot of runs that was really close [to breaking],” Jacobs said. “It’s just the small details. Not only that, man, I’ve got to knock the rust off, too. It was a few plays where I felt like I tripped up a little bit. Plays that I knew I could have made or reads that I was kind of a little late on. It’s going to come with me, man, working at practice and trying to get that back with not being here in the offseason.”
That’s what happens when you opt to skip the entire preseason. Then again, this was something Jacobs had to do. In the end, he agreed to a one-year deal worth $12 million. The good news here is in spite of the extended statement, Jacobs still emerged healthy enough to help his team in their Week 1 contest.
Jacobs will now look to put in a better effort in Week 2 against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, who for their part, are coming off a disappointing 22-16 opening-day loss against a Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets side.
Josh McDaniels Has Full Trust in Josh Jacobs
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels echoed Jacobs’ sentiments about his performance against Denver. The Las Vegas shot caller also shed light on Jacobs’ lower-than-usual snap count in the season opener — something that they will look to remedy in Week 2 against the Bills:
“It was an interesting game because I think he played in the teens [in snap count] in the first half, and normally you’d like your play count to be a little higher,” McDaniels said. “So, just by the nature of how the game went, I didn’t think we would be able to push it to 65 or 70. But because we were so low in the play count in the first half, I felt like we would just let him kind of determine how he felt as he went into the second half.
“Nobody is more critical of his own performance than J.J., so he’ll see things that he can do better, and he’ll work really hard at improving, as will our team. So, I was not surprised that he was OK to do it, and like I said, the game was a little strange in that regard.”
The most important thing is that the Raiders still managed to get the win. It may not have been the prettiest victory, but at least they have now come out unscathed after the first week of the season.
For his part, Josh Jacobs deflected the credit to his teammates for their Week 1 win:
“At the end of the day, I like, I trust and believe in the guys that we’ve got around, the receivers and the quarterback, the whole line,” Jacobs said. “If I’m having a bad game or if it’s not a running game, then we can still come out and pull out a win.”
For More Of My Content
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA. You may also reach out to me personally at pao.songco@gmail.com.
