There were very few starters expected to play in Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars. That’s normally the case for every NFL team in its preseason opener.

But to the surprise of some, the Raiders starting running back Josh Jacobs played a good bit of the first quarter and finished with 44 total yards (30 rushing, 14 receiving) in the Raiders’ 27-11 win.

Injury concerns and the wear and tear of a 17-game season usually keep established starters on the bench for the majority of the preseason and that goes especially for running backs. However, Josh McDaniels, the new Raiders head coach, told NFL.com writer Kevin Patra that he wants to see his top backs get some snaps during the preseason.

“There’s a lot of things that happen when you’re getting tackled and hit that you can’t simulate in practice,” McDaniels said. “We can’t really simulate that or rep that in practice.”

Jacobs, a former first-round pick of the Raiders (24th overall in 2019 NFL Draft), has rushed for 3,087 yards and 28 touchdowns in three seasons. He rushed for 872 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games last season and added 54 catches for 348 yards.