Jalen Richard gets his Raiders moment, and it was a big one

Given the two years it had been since Jalen Richard was utilized on a draw play, he had to make sure he heard Derek Carr correctly when the Raiders’ quarterback made that call Sunday night.

The situation made the call all the more perplexing. The Raiders faced a third-and-23 from their 35-yard line while trailing, 14-10, late in the second quarter of a must-win game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Surely this was a case of miscommunication, thought Richard, who assumed the Raiders would be looking to throw the ball downfield. “I had to ask D.C. again, are you sure you called that?” Richard said.

The answer surprised him a bit. “He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna run it,’” Richard remembers Carr telling him.

Lined up to the right of Carr, who was set up in the shotgun, Richard took a quick glance to the sideline to get a better idea of the distance needed to get the first down.

“I was like, dang that is kind of far,” Richard said of the 23 yards that separated the Raiders from extending the drive.

“But I was like, we’ll see,” Richard said. “I never count myself out.”

Richard also noticed how far off the line of scrimmage the Chargers’ second-line of defense was positioned and how much open space there was between each player.

“I saw we had an opportunity down the middle,” Richard said. “They had spread out, the linebackers had kind of moved out of the box.”

The key, Richard felt, was how quickly and efficiently Raiders center Andre James could get to the second level and neutralize Chargers safety Derwin James, who was positioned in the middle of the field, about 12 yards off the line of scrimmage.

But first, James and the rest of the Raiders’ offensive line had to sell the pass aspect of the play to get the defense to bite on that possibility. That meant setting up in pass protection before seamlessly turning their attention to run blocking.

As Richard took the handoff from Carr, he could see Derwin James make a swift move toward Andre James.

“Andre was able to get a good clean release up into the safety,” said Richard, who tagged right behind his center and, as soon as James sealed off the Chargers’ safety, cut right to open space.

“I was just running man,” Richard said. “I was just like, I gotta get the most out of all the yardage. I just try to maximize every opportunity, That’s what I was thinking.”

As he did, it began dawning on Richard that he had a fighting chance to actually get enough yards to convert the first down.

“I knew I was getting close once I got past Andre,” Richard remembers. “I was like, OK, I got a shot.”

As Chargers defenders began converging on him, he went into fight mode knowing every inch mattered. “I just wanted to keep my feet moving and driving and hope that I got close,” he said.

Richard got hit and pushed in such a way that he was able to get a clean look at the yard maker, which gave him an idea of where to position his body as he began his descent to the ground.

Just for good measure, after he hit the ground, Richard jumped up and gave a first-down sign to sell the result to the referees. “Like I had it,” he explained.

The official ruling was Richard was a little short of the line to gain. But upon further review, the first down was confirmed.

Not only did Richard’s clutch run mean the Chargers would not be getting the ball via a punt with a chance to build on their lead, but it also helped set up the Raiders’ go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run by Josh Jacobs.

The Raiders would never trail again, albeit they did have to go to overtime to finally beat the Chargers.

That might not have happened without the timely contribution of Richard. “I was happy I could do that for my team,” Richard said.

That play pretty much typifies the house money the Raiders have been playing with over the last month or so. And it crystallizes a season for which unlikely heroes continue to emerge at the most opportune time.

Richard is the perfect example given all he’s been through this year — and his lack of playing time — only to provide a crucial lift during the Raiders’ improbable late-season playoff push.

The 28-year running back joins Carr as the only remaining players from the last Raiders playoff team in 2016. But a training camp foot injury and a bout with COVID-19 limited him this year to just 10 games.

His numbers have been sparse as a result. He finished the regular season with just nine carries and 12 receptions. On the other hand, he’s played a big role in pass protection when he is on the field. And he did help dig the Raiders out of a big third-down hole in their must-win game against the Indianapolis Colts by racing 19 yards on a pass reception for a key first down.

That play was just an appetizer for what happened on Sunday night, a draw play that just might have changed the course of the Raiders’ season.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.