Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs had 69 yards and one touchdown on 17 rushing attempts and caught four passes for 26 yards in the Raiders’ 37-34 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. The former Alabama ball-carrier has nine games with more rushing yards and six games with more receiving yards this season.

Jacobs’ longest run against the NFL’s No. 1 defense gained 9 yards, and on a fourth-and-1 snap at the San Francisco 2-yard line in the second quarter, the 49ers stacked up Jacobs for no gain.

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But Jacobs’ performance made an impression on San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa, a three-time Pro Bowler, the NFL’s 2022 sacks leader and a leading candidate for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.

“Best running back I’ve played against in my career, no doubt about it,” Bosa said. “That dude’s a beast.”

Jacobs will enter the final weekend of the regular season with a 160-yard lead in the race for the NFL’s 2022 rushing crown.

Jacobs leads the NFL with 323 rushing attempts and 1,608 rushing yards. He also has run for 12 touchdowns. Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb holds the second spot with 1,448 yards and 12 touchdowns on 290 carries.

Jacobs could become the third Crimson Tide alumnus to win the NFL rushing title.

Shaun Alexander led the league with 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns on 370 carries for the Seattle Seahawks in 2005, and the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry earned rushing crowns with 1,540 yards and 16 touchdowns on 303 carries in 2019 and 2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns on 378 carries in 2020.

Jacobs’ current total ranks as the fourth-most rushing yards in one NFL season by a former Alabama player. In 2004, Alexander ran for 1,696 yards and 16 touchdowns on 353 carries, but he came up 1 yard short of the rushing total of the New York Jets’ Curtis Martin that season.

“The only thing on my mind really is spending this last week with these guys,” Jacobs said. “The locker room’s going to look a lot different next year, and you don’t know who’s coming back and who’s done with football and whatnot, so I’m just trying to enjoy this time.”

The Raiders already made one major change. Instead of nine-year starter Derek Carr at quarterback against San Francisco, Las Vegas gave former Auburn standout Jarrett Stidham his first NFL start.

Stidham responded with one of the best first starts statistically for a quarterback in NFL history. He completed 23-of-34 passes for 365 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 34 yards on seven carries.

RELATED: JARRETT STIDHAM SETS RAIDERS’ RECORD IN HIS FIRST NFL START

“He was calm and collected in the huddle,” Jacobs said. “He was talking to the guys. You couldn’t tell he was a backup, for real. He balled. He did his thing. …

“I kind of seen flashes in preseason of what he was capable of. But, obviously, that’s one of the best defenses, if not the best defense in the league, so for him to go out there and do what he did, I feel like that’s speaking to his campaign as the guy.”

While Stidham did not surprise Jacobs, he did Bosa, who said the 49ers might have underestimated the new QB.

“He was poised,” Bosa said. “He took hits. I hit him a good amount of times. We all did, and he completed the ball on most of them. He’s a tough player and smart.”

Bosa’s final hit on Stidham got the desired result. Stidham’s last pass of the game came up well short, San Francisco safety Tashaun Gipson returned his interception 56 yards to the Las Vegas 7-yard line to set up the overtime-ending field goal.

‘Man, I was happy to see the ball fluttering in the air,” Bosa said.

Stidham will make his second start against the Kansas City Chiefs at 3:30 p.m. CST Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise the game.

With a 6-10 record, including nine losses by seven or fewer points, the Raiders’ season will end on Saturday while the Chiefs are 13-3 and headed to the AFC playoffs.

“It’s against the Chiefs,” Jacobs said, “but it’s also like we’re not going to play football again until August, so we have nothing to lose. Just take it and leave it all on the field.”

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