Raiders’ turmoil emotionally affects Jacobs
Before Las Vegas' game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Raiders running back Josh Jacobs said the team needed to “refocus.”
“I think that's the biggest thing for us,” Jacobs said on Thursday, “like mentally just refocus on the task of what we came into this season wanting to do and try to come out there and try to put that stamp on the game.”
But on Sunday, Las Vegas lost to the Bengals 32-13 to extend the Raiders' losing streak to three games after they started the season by winning five of seven.
The past three losses have come since the Raiders released wide receiver Henry Ruggs III. Ruggs was involved in a fatal traffic accident, booked into jail and released by the Raiders on Nov. 2. He's since been charged with four felonies.
At the time of his release, Ruggs led Las Vegas with 469 receiving yards and had averaged 19.5 yards on his 24 receptions in 2021.
Ruggs' removal from the team came with the Raiders still adjusting after losing coach Jon Gruden. He resigned on Oct. 11 after emails from as long as a decade ago showed him using what has been described as racist, misogynistic and homophobic language.
The Raiders responded to Gruden's departure by beating the Denver Broncos 34-24 on Oct. 17 and Philadelphia Eagles 33-22 on Oct. 24 to enter their bye week with a 5-2 record.
But between the bye and Sunday's loss to the Bengals, Las Vegas also lost to the New York Giants 23-16 on Nov. 7 and Kansas City Chiefs 41-14 on Nov. 14 to drop to the bottom of the AFC West.
After playing as teammates at Alabama in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Jacobs and Ruggs entered the NFL as first-round draft choices of the Raiders – the running back at No. 24 in 2019 and the wide receiver at No. 12 in 2020.
“I feel like for me, it's been a lot harder just with the situations that have come, even with Gruden, with Henry, just because I love them dudes,” Jacobs said. “You know what I'm saying? With Henry, especially, everything around that whole
week reminded me of him. He's right next to me in stretching. When we go off for offense and we go to defense, he's right next to me. I mean, I've spent the last five years with him. I definitely had a deeper emotional standpoint with that. Man, I mean, it made coming to practice weird. It made being around people a little weird for me.
“But I've sat down and I've talked to him. He gave me some encouraging words, which is crazy. He was telling me, `You still got to do what you got to do' and things like that, so I tried to come out that next game in New York and play. That was kind of my thing.
“I kind of got emotional before the game, but once I stepped on the field that day, I was just like, `I'm going to put it out on the line,' and it was probably one of my best games this year, so just try to come back to that, get back to football and get back to the love of the game and just have fun with it.”
Jacobs ran for a season-high 76 yards on 13 carries against the Giants. Last season, Jacobs had at least that many rushing yards in seven games, and as a rookie, he had nine.
Jacobs has been on the Raiders' injury report in eight of Las
Vegas' 10 game weeks in 2021, and he missed the second and third games of the season.
After opening his NFL career with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons, Jacobs has run for 333 yards and five touchdowns on 89 carries and caught 28 passes for 173 yards in 2021. Over his first two seasons, Jacobs averaged 79.1 yards on 18.4 rushing attempts per game. This season, Jacobs has averaged 41.6 yards on 11.1 rushing attempts per game.
The Raiders don't have much time to find the answers. Las Vegas visits the Dallas Cowboys at 3:30 p.m. CST Thursday. Ruggs has been charged with: · Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death.
· Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled or prohibited substance resulting in death or substantial bodily harm.
· Two counts of reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm.
· Possession of a gun under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department contends Ruggs was at fault in a crash that occurred at 3:39 a.m. Nov. 2 on
South Rainbow Boulevard near its intersection with South Spring Valley Parkway in Las Vegas.
A Corvette driven by Ruggs struck a Toyota RAV4 driven by Tina Tintor, a 23-year-old woman who died at the scene as her vehicle burst into flames.
Law-enforcement authorities say the Corvette was traveling at 156 mph 2.5 seconds before impact and 127 mph at the time of a collision. The LVMPD used data from the car's airbag control module to determine those speeds.
The police also reported blood taken from Ruggs within two hours of the accident at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.161 percent. The legal limit in Nevada is 0.08 percent.
After his bail was set at $150,000, Ruggs was released into an electronic-monitoring program.
“I actually been over there a couple of times to his house and talked to him, talked to his family,” Jacobs said. “I kept in contact with them throughout the whole process. Like I said, I know his whole family. I know his mentor. I know everybody. I been knowing everybody, so it was definitely emotional for me.”