LAS VEGAS — Normally, the big-guy touchdown is the cherry on the sundae, a special moment that takes a win to another level and the celebration from players and fans to a higher pitch and crescendo.
But when John Jenkins stumbled and rumbled 44 yards for a touchdown Thursday night, that only gave the Las Vegas Raiders a 56-7 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers. They weren’t done.
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The visiting team had not only come out flat, they laid down in the second quarter and never put up a fight. The Raiders were only too happy to elbow drop their rival, as they wanted to show a national television audience and Raiders owner Mark Davis that interim coach Antonio Pierce should get the full-time job.
Two plays after Jenkins’ score, Raiders cornerback Jack Jones flew into the Chargers backfield anticipating a screen pass. As he jumped through the air between quarterback Easton Stick and running back Austin Ekeler, Jones realized something.
“I was up there thinking, ‘Damn, I overran it,’” Jones said. “So I reached back … and that thing just stuck … and I was like, ‘Oh yeah.’”
As Jones described the motion where he twisted and reached back with his right hand, snagged the ball, and then ran 16 yards for a touchdown, he covered his mouth and started laughing. He almost fell down he was so happy.
HOUSE CALL FOR JACK JONES! #LACvsLV | 📺 PRIME pic.twitter.com/CnpB53BdNR
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) December 15, 2023
Jones still couldn’t believe it. Neither could Davis, who television cameras caught covering and uncovering his eyes in his suite.
The 63-21 win was a night that Jones and Davis and Pierce will never forget. Not only because the Raiders set a franchise record for points and embarrassed the Chargers, but because this might be the night the players got Pierce the full-time job. They bounced back from a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings just four days ago to take a 42-0 halftime lead on the Chargers.
“It was a big turnaround from last week, but we believe in one another, the coaches and the process,” Jones said. “We’re all out, balls to the wall for coach AP.”
While it seems likely that interim general manager Champ Kelly will get the full-time job in the offseason, Davis is rooting for but still evaluating Pierce. Pierce is Davis’ eighth coach since he took over for his late father in 2011. While many draw comparisons to interim coach Rich Bisaccia, who was not retained after 2021, Thursday night probably reminded Davis of 2014, when the late Tony Sparano was the interim coach.
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The Raiders were in the midst of another losing season, and the players liked and played hard for Sparano and wound up splitting their last six games after starting out 0-10. But one of those losses was a 52-0 loss to the Rams in St. Louis, and that game was ultimately the reason that Davis chose Jack Del Rio over Sparano.
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This rout Thursday night could be the opposite, and unlike that Rams game, it was on national television. The Raiders are 3-3 — and two of the three losses were close — under Pierce and 6-8 overall.
“We are playing for AP and Champ, because we love both of them,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “It’s up to us if they’re going to be the coach and GM. They embody the Raider way, and this is the first time since (Jon) Gruden was here (in 2021) that I really feel like I was playing for the Raiders.
“We were 5-8 but that atmosphere tonight was like the first home game of the year.”
Wednesday was Eluemunor’s birthday, but he was celebrating Thursday because he and the rest of the offensive line held Khalil Mack to zero sacks after Mack had six in their first matchup on Oct. 1.
“I got my ass whooped Week 4, and that’s all people wanted to talk about even though I have been holding my own,” Eluemunor said. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t have today circled on my calendar.”
That the Raiders scored 63 points is even more impressive when you consider they were without injured running back Josh Jacobs, left tackle Kolton Miller and center Andre James.
But the Chargers had five turnovers — two off strip sacks by Malcolm Koonce — which led to 35 points. The first 21 points came on three of Aidan O’Connell’s four touchdown passes and the last two came courtesy of the defensive scores by Jenkins and Jones.
At the end of the third quarter, Jenkins scooped up the ball after Koonce knocked it loose and never looked back.
BIG MAN TUDDY!!!#LACvsLV | 📺 @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/crRnc5uUD9
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) December 15, 2023
“Most times when a nose tackle picks up the ball, the referee always blows the whistle,” Jenkins said. “But for the first time, I just kept on going. I saw my dawg Maxx gave me the green light and I just took off. I didn’t tilt my head back.”
Jenkins knew he was taking it to the house the whole way.
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“Oh yeah,” he said. “I had Maxx right next to me and I was looking at the video screen too. Year 11 — I am aware of my surroundings and I knew it was 6.”
The veteran has loved the vibe in the locker room.
“We are playing hard for everybody, whoever is in this building,” Jenkins said. “Everybody can see it, no matter if we win or lose. We’re just going out there swinging every chance we get. … Coach AP is an OG.”
No one knows how Pierce inspires players better than Jones, who was picked up off waivers from the New England Patriots last month. He played for him at both Long Beach Poly High and when Pierce was the defensive coordinator at Arizona State.
“He means everything to me,” Jones said. “He is like a father figure. From high school to now, mentoring me through the ups and downs. Without him, who knows where I would be at.”
Jones also shouted out defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who has turned the Raiders into a top 10 defense — they rank ninth in the league allowing 20 points per game — and had Jones in the right spots the last two weeks especially.
“I want to give it up to coach PG — he has been calling great calls the last two games,” Jones said. “That play tonight … four strong, running back at one, motion into a bunch … I have to go steal that because nine times out of 10, that’s a screen.”
As Jones was running into the end zone and his teammates soon after, Pierce was running down the sideline yelling.
He is in the moment, hoping for more moments with his players next season.
“He is a hell of a coach,” cornerback Nate Hobbs said. “My rookie year, the same thing happened. We closed out the season strong, similar to this, with Bisaccia and we got rid of him. Hopefully, that’s a sign.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
(Top photo of Antonio Pierce congratulating Jack Jones after his pick six:
Michael Owens / Getty Images)
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