Lack of energy dooms running game, Raiders in blowout

NEW ORLEANS — It became clear to Raiders running back Josh Jacobs early that his string of three consecutive 140-plus-yard rushing performances could end Sunday against the Saints at the Caesars Superdome.

He also had the sense it could be a long day for his team.

“We came out slow,” Jacobs said after the team’s 24-0 beatdown on the bayou. “You could tell we were flat. There really wasn’t any energy on the sideline, and it was hard to get energy because nobody was really making any plays for us.”

Jacobs said there was nothing leading up to the game that could have indicated the flat spot was coming, but the malaise started building early.

“You could feel it, especially after the first couple of drives,” he said.

The first of those was a three-and-out that saw the Raiders lose 2 yards before punting. The Raiders got two first downs on their second drive, which included a 16-yard burst for Jacobs, but punted when a penalty put them behind the sticks.

“Somebody just has to make a play,” he said. “That’s it. Normally I feel like I’m the guy to do that. Obviously I didn’t have as many chances to do it.”

Jacobs was limited to 10 carries for 43 yards, largely taken out of the game by the swarming Saints defense and a game script that had the Raiders playing from behind early.

He also had two catches for 11 yards, but the lack of touches were a massive regression from a dominant three-game stretch for the standout running back.

Jacobs had been averaging 27 touches and 147 rushing yards in those games.

“I just tried to execute whenever I got the ball, but it was just one of those days,” he said. “We didn’t really get in a rhythm.”

Jacobs said he wanted to watch the film before he tried to analyze what went wrong, but during live action, he thought it was more a function of the Saints defense playing well than his offensive line struggling.

“If you look at a lot of the runs … I just didn’t know where to go,” he said. “And that wasn’t necessarily the guys getting their blocks. They were just bringing more than we can block. It’s one of those things where every run feels like it’s close to a big one but not close enough.”

Whether it was the linemen’s fault or not, they had a frustrating day overall.

Raiders quarterbacks took nine hits and were sacked four times. The pressure contributed to Derek Carr having one of the worst games of his career before he was relieved by Jarrett Stidham for the final drive.

Starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor insisted the disappointing performance didn’t wipe away the huge strides the line had made in the past three weeks.

“I don’t think there was a step back, just a minor setback,” he said. “I feel like we just have to go in and make corrections. We’ll watch the film and see what we could have done better and fix it.”

It’s the same approach Jacobs plans to take.

“You don’t have any choice in this league but to move on and go to the next opponent,” he said. “You can never look back on the week before, because that will get you beat. It’s going to be an interesting week of practice. I know it will be ramped up and a lot of guys are going to be hot.”

The Raiders will practice in Florida all week before playing at Jacksonville on Sunday.

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