Raiders report: Josh Jacobs expects to play despite injuries

Josh Jacobs is still looking for the close-up image from the TV broadcast of the gnarly pinkie injury he suffered in Week 14 against the Rams and insists he wants to see it.

What he’s not going to do is allow the injury to keep him off the field against the Patriots on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

Jacobs, the NFL’s leading rusher, insists he will play despite drawing a questionable tag on Friday’s final injury report.

“It is what it is, for real,” Jacobs said of the level of pain. “I haven’t been hit yet, but I know I can hold the ball and do what I need to.”

Jacobs, who also is dealing with calf and quad ailments, said he has yet to drop a ball in practice this week as a runner or receiver. He probably will play with some sort of cast.

“It just kind of got stuck underneath me, and my finger went out when my hand went the other way,” said Jacobs, who plans to block the injury out of his mind as much as possible once the game starts. “I feel like once you think about it, that’s when you fumble or get hurt because you’re thinking about it too much. I’m just going to do business as business is done and see how it goes.”

When he takes the field, he will do so with a captain’s “C” stitched into his jersey for the first time this season. The team captains had a meeting this week and decided Jacobs has shown the team so much on and off the field that he needed to be included in the leadership group.

“It’s definitely a great honor just to add that ‘C’ across your chest and see the guys believe in me and the work I put in, but for me personally it doesn’t change how I go about my business,” he said. “I just come into work and lead how I lead. I plan to keep doing that.”

Jacobs was a captain in 2021.

Injury report

Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller are still on injured reserve, so they weren’t included on the team’s injury report.

There are strong indications both will be activated before Sunday’s game and play against the Patriots, with Renfrow a near-certainty.

Speaking before practice, coach Josh McDaniels said he wanted to see how their bodies responded to one more day in pads before making a final decision.

Starting guard Alex Bars and starting cornerback Rock Ya-Sin will miss the game with knee injuries.

Offensive linemen Jermaine Eluemunor (oblique, wrist) and Jackson Barton (back), linebacker Denzel Perryman (hip) and defensive tackle Andrew Billings (fibula) are listed as questionable.

Hairy situation

Punter AJ Cole’s gesture after pinning the Rams deep late in the fourth quarter was not a throat slash as widely speculated on social media, but a nod to the special team room’s latest bonding activity.

Cole and several other core special teamers have grown mustaches, and he was acknowledging that connection when his teammates made the play to down the ball.

Matthias Farley started the trend, mostly by mistake.

“I’ve always shaved my beard halfway through the season just for new energy, and I think I just applied some positive peer pressure to get everyone else to do it,” he said. “I was just joking about it.”

Now the trend has spread beyond just the special teams room. Farley thinks he and Cole have the best look, but awarded honorable mentions to Brandon Bolden, Curtis Bolton, Jakob Johnson and Mack Hollins.

“The beautiful thing about being on a team is that camaraderie,” Farley said. “This is a little more invasive than just all wearing the same color shirt or something. It’s a commitment. Some of the guys had full beards and went with it. It just gives a lot of energy. It’s kind of silly, but at the same time brings everybody together.”

Protege-mentor relationship

A great deal has been made of McDaniels going up against his mentor, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, but McDaniels also will be facing one of his proteges in quarterback Mac Jones.

McDaniels guided Jones’ successful rookie season before leaving to take the Raiders job this offseason and now is tasked with finding ways to stop him.

“Mac is very bright, so it’s hard to fool him,” McDaniels said. “I’ve got a lot of respect and admiration for him, what he did last year, what he did in college and then what he’s doing this year.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.