Ashton Jeanty is 22 and doesn’t profoundly retrieve the Hall of Fame heyday of San Diego Chargers fable LaDainian Tomlinson, among the NFL’s greatest-ever moving backs.
“I ticker highlights and stuff, each that, and deliberation he’s a large player,” Jeanty said earlier signifier Thursday morning. “I’ve gotten immoderate comparisons to him a mates times.”
Jeanty played similar him Sunday for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Like Tomlinson 2 decades earlier him, Jeanty paired his rushing prowess with crisp way running against the Miami Dolphins en way to 147 full yards from scrimmage. Jeanty rushed for 102 yards connected 23 carries to spell with 45 yards and 2 scores via six receptions and helped the Raiders dictate gait and tempo — similar they anticipation to Sunday against Los Angeles.
With 37 rushing attempts — including 7 for 41 yards from rookie moving backmost Mike Washington Jr. — and a fare of completions adjacent the enactment of scrimmage, Las Vegas possessed the shot Sunday for 34:53. Activating Jeanty down their improved violative enactment would assistance the Raiders dictate tempo against the Chargers astatine SoFi Stadium.
The matchup is their archetypal divisional showdown.
“Continuing to power the crippled by moving the ball,” said Jeanty, the No. 6 wide draught prime successful 2025. “That’s going to beryllium the happening that we do. We decidedly privation to acceptable the code with the tally game.”
The Raiders tied for the fourth-most Week 1 rushing attempts successful the NFL, totaling 37 carries (including late-game kneeldowns from backmost Cousins) for 130 yards. Rookie wide receiver Malik Benson’s expanse was snuffed retired by Miami for an 8-yard loss, and prevention for that, the Las Vegas backfield embodied manager Klint Kubiak’s ethos.
Kubiak wants to brace effectual rushing discourtesy with effectual rushing defence archetypal and foremost, his zone-run discourtesy opening play-action passing opportunities down the field. Jeanty serves arsenic a dual-threat backmost who shows he’s built for a featured workload. Washington plays with burst down him, making the astir of his constricted reps.
“A batch of times you’re riding a feline that has a blistery hand,” Kubiak said Monday. “So, I deliberation we’ve got 2 guys that are playing bully football. Ashton evidently had a truly bully game, and we expect much from Mike. Not that helium didn’t play well. … But it was his archetypal NFL crippled and … we got a bully look astatine however helium responded against ones vs. ones.”
Though Jeanty’s receptions don’t number arsenic carries, they’re adjacent successful the consciousness that they’re high-percentage passes that springiness him the accidental to tally successful space. They adhd a wrinkle for a portion that whitethorn beryllium without prima choky extremity Brock Bowers again — arsenic helium recovers from the process helium underwent to hole his injured near meniscus past week — without overmuch risk.
“We privation to maximize everything helium does,” violative coordinator Andrew Janocko said of Jeanty earlier signifier Thursday. “We’re trying to usage him whether it’s successful the walk game, successful the tally game. He’s a subordinate that has a batch of talent, truthful we effort to instrumentality vantage of him nevertheless we spot acceptable — immoderate the defence gives america that week.”
One reception oregon transportation astatine a time.
“Everything starts with moving the shot for us, whether it’s running, play-action,” Janocko added. “But for us, this crippled starts up beforehand — and I ever genuinely judge that. I deliberation that’s conscionable (what) we judge in. So, we’re conscionable trying to maximize what we bash successful that aspect.”
Contact Sam Gordon astatine sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon connected X.
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