For ‘Pops’: Jacobs perseveres through ‘hardest game’ in Raiders loss to Chiefs

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023 | 2 a.m.

Josh Jacobs wasn’t going to play in the Raiders’ season finale Saturday afternoon against the Chiefs, and it had nothing to do with hip and oblique injuries that slowed him in the prior game.

The running back hadn’t even been in Las Vegas all week as he spent the previous three days in Oklahoma where his father, Marty Jacobs, underwent emergency heart surgery. After an “up and down” operation that featured complications, Marty didn’t wake up until Friday.

Josh was in the hospital to comfort his father and figured that would be where he remained until Marty shared a wish.

“He told me he wanted me to play,” Josh Jacobs said in front of his locker postgame. “So that’s why I’m here.”

Josh Jacobs flew back to Las Vegas late Friday night, slept “four or five hours” and arrived at Allegiant Stadium in the morning to show the Raiders’ medical staff he was physically capable of playing.

He couldn’t ultimately will the Raiders to victory in a 31-13 defeat but his mere presence inspired his teammates one last time in a season where Jacobs has done that regularly.

Las Vegas capped the year with a 6-11 record — its worst mark since 2014 — for a disappointing campaign that will mostly be remembered with extreme negativity given its initial high expectations. But Jacobs gave the season the biggest positive footnote as he elevated to superstar status by finishing with an NFL-leading 1,653 rushing yards, the second most in franchise history.

Browns running back Nick Chubb would need to run for a career-high 206 yards today against the Pittsburgh Steelers to surpass Jacobs for this season’s NFL rushing title.

“We understood and respected the situation and if he had chosen not to (play) then I would have completely understood that but he came back,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said. “I give him a ton of credit for giving it a go and trying to help us win a game.”

The Raiders never appeared to stand much of a chance though. With career backup Jarrett Stidham making his second career start at quarterback, Kansas City packed the box defensively with a gameplan designed around stopping Jacobs.

The Raiders’ offensive line struggled to deal with the extra manpower up front and failed to create the type of holes they had cleared for Jacobs throughout the rest of the year. He was regularly getting hit at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield, finishing with 17 carries for 45 yards.

But Jacobs never quit even as it sometimes looked like many of the other Raiders weren’t fully locked in. He caught a short pass from Stidham in the flat late in the game and lowered his shoulder to turn back cornerback L’Jarius Sneed’s attempted tackle — chirping with some trash talk along the sideline at the end of the play.

That got a roar from the Raider faithful — which were largely outnumbered by the visiting fan base for the second straight week — less than a minute before Stidham found Hunter Renfrow for an 11-yard score, the team’s only touchdown of the day.

“That’s probably the hardest game I’ve ever played,” Jacobs said. “Not in the sense of physical or anything like that, just mentally trying to stay in it. Being on the sideline and having too much time to think…Being the rock of your family is never easy when the person that’s your rock is going through it, so it’s been an interesting time for me.”

Jacobs' emotions, like most NFL players, were already high early in the week after seeing Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapse on the field during Monday Night Football. Both teams paid tribute to Hamlin, who’s continued to recover after being in critical condition, with pregame shirts and the stadium honored him on its big screens.

Jacobs talked to his father after the incident on Monday and discussed praying for Hamlin. The next day, a heart issue struck much closer to home.

Jacobs' six-year old son, Braxton, found Marty with chest pains and called 911. That decision may have saved Marty’s life.

“My son and my dad are like best friends so it’s always like you see one, you see the other,” Josh Jacobs explained. “I’m just happy he’s smart enough to understand what was going on in that situation. It was rough for me trying to explain to him what happened and stuff like that. I told him I’m proud of him. My pops said he’s his hero.”

Although Jacobs' absence for the game was more than excused, McDaniels said he wasn’t surprised that the running back ended up playing. He’s been questionable for at least three other games this season, and ended up taking the field.

This year marks the first time in Jacobs' career that he’s played in every regular-season game, and he picked the perfect time to pull off the iron-man routine. The season started with the Raiders declining Jacobs' fifth-year rookie option and laying the foundation to move on from him.

But now it’s nearly impossible to envision the future of the Raiders without Jacobs.

He’s a beloved member of the locker room, as the season-long captains “mandated” McDaniels include him with a “C” on his chest for the final month of the season. He’s a fan favorite. And he embodies the culture McDaniels seeks to build in Las Vegas, though failed to manifest in his first season at the helm.

“Josh is one of the toughest people I’ve ever been around,” tight end Darren Waller said. “Some of the stuff that he’s fought through, the adversity he’s overcome to just play and show up for the team and give what he’s got, that’s a constant from him. Guys respect that on a very deep level.”

The Raiders fell to 1-7 against the Chiefs since Jacobs has been with the team. Like in so many of those previous meetings, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the way.

Mahomes, this season’s probable NFL Most Valuable Player award-winner, led the Chiefs to touchdowns on three of their first four drives, the final one coming on a short field after safety Juan Thornhill intercepted a pass thrown by Stidham into double coverage.

Kansas City then added a 44-yard field goal from Harrison Butker right before halftime when Stidham fumbled upon taking his fourth of six sacks on the day.

Mahomes wound up throwing for only 202 yards, but he was predictably much more in control than Stidham who logged 219 yards.

With a 24-3 halftime deficit, it looked like the game was on a path to getting way out of hand. But the Raiders bounced back to outscore the Chiefs in the second half.

Jacobs wouldn’t stop fighting and his teammates followed course.

“That’s what made coming back so good,” Jacobs said. “(From) basically the whole team, I definitely got that love and support…Everybody had my back with it.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or