After being injured early in the season opener, Jacob Ford returned to the field Sunday against the Patriots. Unfortunately, his return was not as successful as he and the Raiders had hoped it would be. Ford did not have a single catch and had one bad drop.
His lack of production can, in part, be attributed to the fact that Ford's hamstring is still not at 100%. Jacoby Ford's biggest threat is his speed. He still has some work to do on his route running and keeping his head in the game. On Sunday, he dropped a ball when he was wide open and on a pass that was not very difficult. Without his speed, Ford is a good receiver, but is nothing special.
Luckily for the Raiders, even with his hamstring still not at 100%, Ford is still pretty darn fast. He showed both his speed and his elusiveness on a 30 yard end around that by all means should have been a loss of yards. Right as Ford got the ball, he was met deep in the backfield by a Patriot defender. Ford sidestepped the defender, then headed to the sideline where he opened up and was only barely pushed out of bounds at the six yard line.
Ford seems to believe that if he were 100%, then he would not have been caught, and instead would have been celebrating in the end zone.