The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense as a whole was pretty abysmal on Sunday in the team’s 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. In particular, the team’s run game never got going as Josh Jacobs totaled just 34 yards on 13 carries, his lowest outing since Week 2.
There was a reason for that as Jacobs did appear to injure himself early in the game, but the running back would play through the pain. Unfortunately, it would eventually get to be too much as Jacobs would limp off the field with about six minutes remaining in the contest and not return to the field.
After the contest, Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce did reveal that Jacobs indeed did get hurt early in the contest, and just wasn’t the same after.
“He got nicked up early on,” Pierce said. “I think that just got on him. He tried to come back and he just wasn’t, he wasn’t himself. At that point, he was done with it.”
Jacobs’ ability in the run game is absolutely crucial for the success of the Raiders. Especially with rookie Aidan O’Connell under center, establishing the run game makes things significantly easier for the young quarterback.
Now the question is whether Jacobs will be available for the team’s Week 15 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers. Unfortunately for the Raiders, it is a short week with the team facing off on Thursday night and Pierce is unsure whether Jacobs will be able to suit up.
“Tough guy,” Pierce added. “I mean, I think we have to look and get with our medical staff on that, but he tried to fight as best as he could and wasn’t able to finish. We’ll look into that tomorrow.”
Josh Jacobs is as tough as they come and there is no doubt he will do everything in his power to be on the field when the Raiders host the Chargers on Thursday. But if he is not himself and that injury continues to hamper him, it would likely be better for him to sit out rather than risk further harm.
Should that be the case it would likely be Zamir White and Ameer Abdullah taking on the brunt of the backfield work. Again, it would also put more pressure on O’Connell without his top running back, but the Raiders still have plenty of weapons to rely on in the passing game against a Chargers team that is going downhill very fast.
