NFL
Josh Jacobs Could End an Impressive Streak by the New Orleans Saints Defense
Josh Jacobs is coming off the first three-touchdown career of his young NFL career. The Las Vegas Raiders running back had 93 rushing yards and his three rushing scores in last Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers. He also caught four passes for 46 yards. Jacobs will need to have another big game Monday night if he wants to snap an impressive streak by the New Orleans Saints defense.
Josh Jacobs is turning into an NFL star
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For Josh Jacobs, the numbers are starting to come. When Jacobs was a running back at Alabama, he was bitten by the injury bug. He struggled through a hamstring issue and it was also later revealed that he played part of his sophomore season with a broken ankle.
Jacobs was also splitting time with other backs. In his three years at Alabama, his biggest season was his final one when he rushed for 640 yards and 11 touchdowns. Those aren’t earth-shattering numbers, but the Oakland Raiders saw enough in Jacobs to make him a first-round pick. He was selected by the Raiders with the 24th overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.
A healthy Jacobs had himself quite a rookie season through 13 weeks before the unhealthy Jacobs took over. Jacobs became the first rookie running back for the Raiders to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He did it in 13 games, finishing with 1,150 rushing yards. He missed three out of the last four games with a shoulder injury.
Jacobs becoming the go-to guy for the Raiders
The Oakland Raiders in 2019 put together quite the ground game, led by rookie Josh Jacobs. It didn’t take long for the rookie to make an impact when he scored a pair of touchdowns and rushed for 85 yards in his debut against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.
Jacobs rushed for better than 100 yards in five games and had a 99-yarder in Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs. In that game, he averaged better than eight yards per carry. He had his best game in a 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions when he rushed for 120 yards and two scores.
Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson said he’s very impressed with Jacobs. Olson said there is room for improvement and Jacobs is working hard to get better. “We feel like he’s developing into that full-time player,” Olson said, according to Raiders.com. “He can still get better. He’s still out working right now with the quarterbacks, working on choice routes and other routes that we ask our running backs to run in third-down situations. So, it’s been great.”
Jacobs could end a streak by the New Orleans Saints defense
With another 100-yard game against the New Orleans Saints on Monday, Josh Jacobs would snap a very impressive streak by the Saints defense. The Saints have not allowed a 100-yard rusher in their last 44 games. The Saints take a lot of pride in the record because it shows they are controlling the line of scrimmage.
“It’s important to us and it’s one of our main goals, to win the line of scrimmage,” said linebacker Demario Davis to NOLA.com. “That’s the run game and the passing game. It’s important to make teams one dimensional. Just in general, for a good defense you have to have a good run defense. With our defensive line, it makes the work of the linebackers easy.”
The last running back to rush for 100 yards against the Saints? It was none other than Washington’s Samaje Perine, who had 117 yards in November of 2017.