First-round picks Jacobs, Abram, Ferrell come up huge

Josh Jacobs was the heart and soul of the Raiders offense in the opener. Same goes for Johnathan Abram on defense.

And as for Clelin Ferrell, he assisted on the play that ensured the Raiders a 34-30 win over the host Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Jacobs rushed for 93 yards on the day, and made good on Jon Gruden’s offseason insistence that he become part of the passing game with four receptions for 46 yards. Jacobs had touchdown runs of 1, 6 and 7 yards and was the most productive back on the field.

Considering Christian McCaffrey was on the opposite sideline, that’s saying something.

Abram led the Raiders with 13 tackles, nine of them solo stops, and delivered a crunching blow on McCaffrey in the third quarter.

Ferrell and linebacker Raekwon McMillan made sure Jacobs’ third touchdown held up when they stuffed Carolina fullback Alex Armah on a fourthand-1 play with just over a minute to play, enabling the Raiders to kill the clock and begin the season 1-0.

Going in to the 2018 season, the Raiders dealt Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears, giving themselves three first-round draft picks the following offseason. Ferrell went No. 4 out of Clemson, Jacobs 24th with the Mack pick, and Abram at No. 25.

As Gruden said at the time, the trade will be debated “until the cows come home” but it was made with the future in mind. Like the deal or hate it, the Raiders don’t win their opener without all three of the 2019 draftees. Jacobs, who lost out to Kyler Murray a year ago as the NFL’s Rookie of the Year after missing the last three games with a broken shoulder, picked up where he left off before he got injured in 2019.

“I’ve been the son of a backfield coach my whole life,” Gruden said postgame. “I’ve seen a lot of running backs for a long time. That was a little bit like Walter Payton used to play. It was hot as hell. He got beat up early. He insisted on coming back. He insisted he get the ball as a runner and receiver. He’s special. He deserves some national attention. I hope you guys give it to him.”

Jacobs’ running ability comes as no surprise, given he rushed for 1,150 yards in 13 games as a rookie. Part of the plan was to involve Jacobs more in the passing game, and he had an 18-yard catch from Derek Carr during the nine-play, 75-yard drive that won the game.

“I mean, that’s the thing I worked on the most coming in to the offseason,” Jacobs said. “Just trying to build my different routes, whether it’s extending them or stacking them or knowing certain leverages. Just to see that he has confidence in me is huge for me.”

Carr, who threw 30 passes while the Raiders ran it 31 times, loves the balance Jacobs brings to the offense.

“Josh is special,” Carr said. “The things that people don’t see, Josh without the ball, Josh blocking, Josh in the play-action game and how much they bite when I fake the ball to him. It’s a quarterback’s dream.”

Abram left the field with a torn labrum after last year’s opener, going on injured reserve and missing almost all of his rookie year. He’s been counseled to play with poise and abandon, while putting aside the reckless abandon. He was the best defensive player on the field against Carolina.

One third-quarter hit on McCaffrey had Carr looking up from his tablet highlight session and Jacobs fired up on the sideline.

“John is a character on and off the field. You just see the way he flies around and the way he brings that juice to that defense,” Jacobs said. “It’s electric. I catch myself watching him like a fan.”

Abram is definitely keeping it under wraps in media settings, dodging questions about his big hit and stressing team goals.

“It felt great to be back out there today with my guys,” Abram said. “(Sunday) was a very sloppy performance on the defense’s part. We’ve got to go out and execute a lot more than we did. We gave up a few big plays, and when you give up big plays in this league, that’s how you get beat. We were fortunate to come out with a ‘W’ today but overall we did what we needed to do to get the win.”

Ferrell, who had a hand in the fourth-and-1 stop, gave credit to the Carolina offense to a point.

“The defense definitely did not feel it was how we needed to play,” Ferrell said. “When the game is on the line, you’ve got to block all that out . . . I wouldn’t say it was they did, it was more what we didn’t do.”