Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs carries the ball against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
(Gregory Bull/Associated Press)
Josh Jacobs leads the NFL with 1,159 yards rushing. That’s more than double of the Chargers’ leader, Austin Ekeler, who has 554. Jacobs ran for 229 yards last weekend in an overtime victory at Seattle.
The Chargers have surrendered an average of 183 yards on the ground over their last five games, a porous stretch that has sent them down to 28th in rushing defense. Given all that information, the Raiders’ strategy entering this game would appear obvious.
“They have an elite runner that breaks a lot of tackles,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley said. “You can’t block everything perfectly. You have to have running backs that can create on their own. Josh is as good as at anybody that because he can make you miss and he can run through you.”
Jacobs had a single-game season-low-tying 10 carries when the teams met at SoFi Stadium in Week 1, a 24-19 Chargers win. That day, Las Vegas fell behind by two touchdowns in the second quarter and largely went away from its running game.
A mix of Jacobs and Derek Carr-to-DaVante Adams would make for the Raiders’ ideal afternoon. Adams caught 10 passes for 141 yards against the Chargers in that Week 1 game.
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