Playoffs. A word that has been used just once in nearly two decades to describe the Raiders. And the other time doesn’t really count considering they did so while field a rookie making his first ever start. This time it feels more real. It also was won the hardest way possible.
Twice in this game the Raiders took a two-score lead only to watch as the Chargers erased it. First it was a 10-0 lead that became a 14-10 deficit. Then it was a 29-14 lead that turned into a 29-29 tie that headed to overtime.
The manner in which the lead was lost at the end of the game was absolutely unreal.
It was Casey Hayward picking off Justin Herbert on a deep pass that set up the field goal that put the Raiders up by 15. And the rest of regulation was all Chargers.
There was 8:23 left on the clock and the Chargers would use over six minutes of that on two drives that featured a total of 33 plays. Among those 33 plays, they converted five fourth downs and two third downs.
The final drive in particular was insane and ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass by Justin Herbert with no time left on the clock.
Suddenly what seemed like a lead that was one play away from being too much for the Chargers to overcome was a new game.
That’s when Josh Jacobs put on his cape.
“When the four-minute came before overtime, I told them ‘I’m the closer. That’s what y’all brought me here for. Let me close.’,” Jacobs said after the game. “And when we got the opportunity and they tied the game and we went to overtime, I looked at Oly (Greg Olson) and I said ‘It’s time’ and we collectively came together – the offensive line, DC (Derek Carr), everybody – and just made it happen.”
Jacobs would seem like an unlikely hero. He has been fighting through a rib injury for several weeks and was questionable coming into the game because of it. But it never kept him from playing. After all, for the first time this late in the season, he had something to fight for.
“I feel like we kind of knew what was at stake,” Jacobs said. “I’ve never been in the playoffs since I’ve been in the league. . . I told them there’s no way I don’t play in this game. Hurt or not they were going to get everything out of me. That’s how it played out. It was amazing for real.”
Make no mistake, Jacobs was hurting. Even if it may have seemed like he was riding adrenaline and feeling no pain, he assured me that was not the case.
“Naw, you feel it,” Jacobs assured me. “I feel it right now. You feel it when you breathe, you know what I’m saying? I get winded and I feel it. It’s just one of them where I was constantly talking to myself each play. Getting helped up off the ground, I was just talking to myself, like ‘ok, it’s this much time on the clock, so this is what we need.’ I would’ve felt like I let my team down if I went out there and let the pain get to me and give up. So many guys play with injuries on our team. So many guys have little things that are going on, I feel like they deserve my all. And I tried to come out there and give it to them today.”
At the end of regulation, Jacobs had 67 yards on 19 carries (3.5 yards per carry). And in light of his injuries, no one would have been surprised or thought less of him if he was unable to continue to be the workhorse back and someone else had to step up in the overtime period.
That’s not how it went down.
Jacobs came out in the overtime period and put up more yards than he had in the entire rest of the game combined.
His first two runs of the overtime period went for 28 yards and 18 yards to set the Raiders up for a go-ahead 40-yard field goal.
From there the Chargers had their shot, driving to tie the game back up at 32-32, which meant the next score would win it. Or if no one else scored, the game would end in a tie.
That tie possibility was a real one. Mainly because win or tie, the Raiders were playoff bound. The only difference would be, if they wanted to send the Chargers home or the Steelers. A tie and the Chargers get in too. A win and the Chargers are done, while punching the Steelers’ ticket. That was something interim head coach Rich Bisaccia had considered.
“It was a conversation. We were talking about it,” said Bisaccia.
Whether the Raiders let the game end in a tie was dependent upon whether the Chargers could stop the run. They knew their best option was to keep the ball on the ground to avoid the risk of a turnover and run the clock out. If the Chargers stop it, the clock runs out and both teams are in the playoffs. If they don’t, the Raiders go for the win.
They didn’t stop them.
In third and four from the LA 39-yard-line, Jacobs broke through again for ten yards. And suddenly not only could the Raiders run out the clock, but at the end of it, they would have the chance to get the W.
Jacobs would add 69 yards on seven carries in the overtime period to finish with a season-high 132 yards on 26 carries (5.1 yards per carry). And the last one was for the win.
“You could see the way Josh was running. I think he had that little extra tonight,” said wide receiver Hunter Renfrow. “I think everybody played so well, and it was a total team effort, but the way Josh ran and closed the game out was special.”
Jacobs was the closer the Raiders needed. He closed out the Chargers season. And opened the door for the Raiders first playoff berth since 2016 and the first in nearly two decades where they think they might actually be able to keep it rolling. Lots of pain with potentially a lot more gain.
They will face the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs. On to Cincinnati.