Josh Jacobs is a grown man
The Raiders' 2019 first-round draft pick had himself a game today.
Jacobs continues to prove himself as the workhorse back of the future for the Raiders, finishing with 93 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns. After saying he had worked heavily on his route-running this offseason, Jacobs also made some key plays in the passing game, averaging 11 yards per catch with 46 yards on four receptions.
Aided by a monstrous performance from his offensive line, Jacobs brought out his lunch pail and went to work from kickoff, running through gaps and punishing the Panthers' LB corps at the second level. And when he rested, backup Devontae Booker also gave the Silver and Black some solid production with 29 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards on three catches.
The O-line deals with adversity by dominating
Zero.
That's the number of times Derek Carr was sacked today. And it wasn't how the Coach Cable and the rest of the staff drew it up; injuries sidelined both tackles Trent Brown and Sam Young, and Denzelle Good was forced to slide over to play right tackle.
As mentioned above, Jacobs enjoyed a terrific game with a hat trick on the ground. Despite have injuries to both right tackles Trent Brown and Sam Young, the offensive line was more than able to hold their own with Rodney Hudson and Richie Incognito leading the way in the trenches.
Look at this touchdown; it doesn't get much easier than this.
The defense came up when it mattered.
The young Raiders secondary was definitely tested the way Coach Gruden expected the way they would be. Despite giving up 30 points, including a 75-yard touchdown reception to Robby Anderson, the young defense held their own in key situations.
Johnathan Abram and Trayvon Mullen were able set the tone for the young secondary, and the defensive line was able to come through with a key sack from Carl Nassib and Maurice Hurst to get a monumental stop in the third quarter.
The team collectively dug deep with a fourth-down stop with less than two minutes to go in order to get a pivotal turnover on downs to effectively end the game.
