Zamir In lieu of an injured Josh Jacobs, second-year running back Zamir White helped the Las Vegas Raiders defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-14.White of the Raiders fills in for Josh Jacobs
Missouri’s Kansas City The Las Vegas Raiders announced just hours before their biggest 2023 game that Josh Jacobs, their All-Pro running back, would miss his second straight game due to injury.
With a quad injury, Jacobs has been struggling to play through the pain ahead of Monday’s Christmas Day game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
After the Raiders upset the Chiefs 20-14, Jacobs said, “When you can’t lift the leg up, can’t do high knees or anything like that, you just got to make the smart decision rather than going out there and hindering the team trying to play selfishly.”
It would seem that the Chiefs, a formidable opponent, would be extremely difficult for Las Vegas to defeat in the absence of the league’s current rushing champion. That was surprisingly not the case.
For the second straight week, Zamir White, a second-year running back for the Raiders, took Jacobs’ place. White’s friend and mentor, Jacobs, told him before the biggest game of his NFL career, “You’re due for a good one.”
With 64 rushing yards on the game’s last drive, which decided the Raiders’ victory, White finished Monday’s game with 145 rushing yards.
White explained what helped him rise to the occasion: “Just waiting my turn, just grinding hard, and just trusting my teammates with the help of Josh and the other running backs.” “Yeah, it was great just getting out there doing my thing and just having a good time doing it.”
With less than three minutes left in the game, the Raiders led, 20-14, and the Kansas City supporters were applauding their defense and demanding one more stop.
White hinted at what was to come when he broke up the middle for a 6-yard gain on the opening play. The Chiefs’ 26-yard line was reached after he burst into a 43-yard run. And if that wasn’t enough to put the final nail in the coffin, after Kansas City used its third and last timeout, White sealed the victory with a 15-yard run.
White’s performance was just the most recent in the Raiders’ string of “next-man-up” performances, a mindset that has kept them in the hunt for the playoffs.
