Injury couldn’t even stop Raiders’ Josh Jacobs from record-setting day in win vs. Seahawks

Somewhere, perhaps, Marcus Allen may be smiling.

Josh Jacobs did everything imaginable to live up to his mentor’s legacy Sunday, lifting the Raiders to a walk-off overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks.

His 86-yard touchdown run sealed the Raiders’ 40-34 victory at Lumen Field.

That’s even while dealing with a calf injury that forced him to miss at least three plays during the game.

There was no way he was going to sit out all or any of the overtime period, and he showed his toughness by cutting through a hole up front and from there it was all open green grass for Jacobs.

“I’m running out of superlatives,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said. “Over 300 total yards in the game, and it didn’t feel perfect, but just — I think toughness — he’s a football player. That’s probably the greatest compliment I can give him. He comes up big with big — he had a couple big first downs on third-and-short that I’m not sure everybody in the league gets those, but he did, and of course makes the big play at the end.

“I thought he was tremendous throughout, gave us a lot of hard yards in the running game, caught the ball well out of the backfield, made some big plays with his hands, but that’s JJ. That’s what he is.”

According to NFL research, Jacobs’ 86-yarder is the second-longest overtime rushing touchdown and fourth-longest OT touchdown from scrimmage since 1974.

Jacobs is the sixth player in NFL history with at least 300 scrimmage yards — 229 yards rushing and 74 receiving — and multiple scrimmage touchdowns in a single game. He set the franchise record with his 303 yards.

Jacobs previously said he has sought out Allen for advice ever since the franchise drafted Jacobs in 2019.

Earlier this season he moved atop some elite company, surpassing Allen (3,688) for the most yards within a player’s first 50 games for the Raiders.

He said at that time that “he tells me his experiences and how he felt in certain situations” and “that’s what helps me.”

The Raiders should know by now Jacobs’ value to the franchise and will have to consider re-signing him to a big contract after the season, since the team declined his fifth-year option.

He deserves every dollar coming his way and potentially a long-term deal.

Jacobs proved it once again with the long touchdown run. Even Derek Carr knew Jacobs was going to score.

“As soon as he broke the tackle. I saw him get through,” he said. “I knew what coverage they were playing and as soon as I seen him get through, it’s really him and the safety. If he beats him, it’ll be a big play. He made that last guy missed, he took it to the house. I didn’t run down there because I know how fast he is, but at the end, I saw 27 run down there and I was like please don’t get caught because I would have to run 80 yards to come do the next play.

“To see him finish like that, I know what’s he been dealing with and how hard he works, it’s really cool to see that.”

Jacobs admitted a calf injury continued to bother him all week, but felt he could give it a go Sunday. And while he missed those handful of plays and there was at least some discussion of him calling an early end to his day, he wanted to prove to his teammates that he could finish the game.

Fortunately for his teammates, he came through in even bigger fashion.

“It’s kind of crazy, coming in and not knowing if I was going to play,” he said. “Looking the guys in the eyes and telling them they’re going to get everything they’ve got in me. They didn’t want me to finish the game, but I kind of convinced them that I could go, and the biggest play of the game happened after that.”