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By Madison Williams
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The Las Vegas Raiders secured their fourth win of the season by beating the New York Jets 38-33 on Sunday.
The Raiders haven't utilized the run game very much this season, and Sunday's game plan was no different. Coming into Week 8, the Raiders ranked 31st in the league with 74.7 rushing yards per game. On Sunday, Las Vegas tallied 95 rushing yards.
The storyline coming out of the game consisted of the running backs' workloads. RB1 Ashton Jeanty only had two carries during the contest for just nine yards. On the other hand, the secondary running back Mike Washington Jr. had 25 carries for 83 yards. There was a clear difference in the amount of carries between the running backs.
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Instantly, fans wondered if Jeanty's comments in the media this past week about the Jets' defense sparked coach Klint Kubiak to not play him as much on Sunday. Jeanty went viral for saying "a couple guys out there that don't really want to tackle, but I'm not going to say names," about New York's defense. The comment didn't sit well with the Jets, obviously.
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However, Kubiak cleared the air after the win and said Jeanty's comment "didn't" impact his decision to utilize Washington more on Sunday. It was Kubiak's decision to do so, but he didn't go into details of why he made the choice to flip-flop their workloads.
"That's my call, and Ashton's still going to be a big part of our team. Got a huge catch. He's going to be a huge part of our run game moving forward," Kubiak said after the game. "Gave Mike some more opportunities today. I think both of those guys will be a huge part of our rushing and passing successes."
Jeanty wasn't surprised by his lack of carries as Kubiak "communicated" to him before the game about his decreased workload. Here's what he had to say after the win:
"We won. It doesn't matter how I feel about how [many] times I get the ball," Jeanty said, via ESPN's Ryan McFadden. "Whatever it takes for the team to win, I just want to win. That's all."
Jeanty did catch three passes for 64 yards, with his longest receiving play totaling 45 yards. But, that's not where Jeanty's strengths lie. He led all rookie running backs last season with 975 yards, and ranked 18th in the NFL with this total. The Raiders need to figure out what's going on with Jeanty in order to utilize him to his best ability moving forward.
It's clear Jeanty's workload has been dwindling as the season progresses. His season-high came during Week 1 when he had 23 carries for 102 yards. Since then, he's decreased his amount of carries week-by-week until he only had two this weekend. He's totaled 106 carries for 328 yards and just one rushing touchdown.
In contrast, Washington posted his season-highs with his carries and rushing yards on Sunday.
The Raiders will face the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday, and we'll see if Jeanty has more carries, or if he will transition into a more secondary running back role for now.
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