Las Vegas quarterback Jarrett Stidham’s second NFL start wasn’t as productive as his first, but Raiders running back Josh Jacobs might have done enough under trying circumstances to secure the NFL’s 2022 rushing crown in a 31-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday.

Jacobs left for his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Tuesday and did not return to Las Vegas until Friday night because of his father’s emergency heart surgery.

Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said he was not surprised the former Alabama standout returned from a family crisis to play for a non-playoff team in a season-ending game “because I know him, and that’s a testament to him and his family. That was totally on their discretion. We understood the situation. … J.J. knew he had whatever he wanted from us relative to support. We understood and respected the situation. If he had chosen not to, then I would have completely understood that. But he came back, and I give him a ton of credit for giving it a go and trying to help us win a game at the end of the season.”

With “Pops” written on his eye-black for the Raiders’ regular-season finale, Jacobs ran for 45 yards on 17 carries and caught two passes for 5 yards on Saturday.

With a season total of 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns on 340 rushing attempts, Jacobs has a 205-yard lead on Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb. Chubb will enter the Browns’ regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday with 1,448 yards and 12 touchdowns on 290 carries.

In Las Vegas’ 37-34 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Stidham set a franchise record for passing yards for a first-time starter with 365 and became the second NFL player with at least 350 passing yards and three touchdown passes in his first start.

Against Kansas City, Stidham completed 22-of-36 passes for 219 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran seven times for 50 yards.

The former Auburn QB threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Hunter Renfrow with 6:37 left to play.

“I thought he did some good things and there’s plenty to learn from,” McDaniels said of Stidham. “Any young player who’s playing his first or second game in the NFL, there’s going to be a lot of things that you do that you haven’t experience before, so I thought he learned some things last week, he learned more things today. I thought he hung in there and made some good throws as the game wore on, gave us an opportunity on some things, and, ultimately, we had a couple of turnovers, which against this team can really hurt you.”

Stidham was sacked six times and hit 14. He fumbled twice and lost one.

“I just kind of think we shot ourselves in the foot,” Stidham said. “My interception, my fumble, I think it was more self-inflicted. I thought we moved the ball pretty well throughout the majority of the game. It was just a couple of times we kind of shot ourselves in the foot, whatever it was. I think that’s kind of what it comes down to.”

Five other players from Alabama high schools and colleges got on the field during the Kansas City-Las Vegas game:

· Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah (Homewood) had a 10-yard reception and a 25-yard kickoff return.

· Raiders cornerback Anthony Averett (Alabama) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

· Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson (Auburn) made his three kicks – field goals of 54 and 38 yards and an extra point. Carlson’s first field goal on Saturday was his 11th of the season from 50 or more yards away. That is the most in one season in NFL history as he moved past the 10 made by the Minnesota Vikings’ Blair Walsh in 2012 and the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker in 2016.

· Raiders defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr. (Murphy) registered a quarterback hit to close his rookie season.

· Chiefs wide receiver Justyn Ross (Central-Phenix City) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

· Kadarius Toney (Blount) started at wide receiver for the Chiefs. Toney had 26 yards and one touchdown on three rushing attempts, 18 yards on two receptions and 5 yards on one punt return. Toney scored the first rushing touchdown of his NFL career on an 11-yard sweep as Kansas City took a 21-3 lead with 47 seconds left in the first quarter.

· Chiefs offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho (Edgewood Academy, Auburn) played but did not record any stats.

Kansas City completed the regular season with a 14-3 record and the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. That comes with a first-round bye next week, but not necessarily homefield advantage throughout the conference’s postseason.

To address “potential competitive inequities” created by the cancellation of Monday night’s Buffalo Bills-Cincinnati Bengals game, NFL owners voted on Friday for the AFC Championship Game to be played at a neutral site if the two participants had played an unequal number of regular-season games and both could have been the No. 1 seed if both had played the full 17-game schedule.

That change will come into play if the Bills defeat the New England Patriots on Sunday, and then Buffalo and Kansas City reach the AFC Championship Game.

Las Vegas completed its season with a 6-11 record.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.