NEW ORLEANS – Mike Washington Jr. has been dreaming about scoring his first career touchdown for just about as long as he has been playing football.
So it was OK with him that he had to wait a few seconds longer than he should have to officially celebrate when it finally happened during Sunday’s 35-27 win over the Saints at Caesars Superdome.
Washington exploded down the right sideline for a 36-yard scoring run late in the third quarter, but the officials initially ruled he had stepped out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
The Raiders lined up and appeared to be set to run a play, but coach Klint Kubiak threw out a challenge flag.
The call was overturned and ruled a touchdown almost immediately, prompting a celebration.
“I knew I was in,” Washington laughed after the game. “I just had to wait.”
The play was originally bottled up at the line of scrimmage, but Washington stayed patient and a hole finally opened up.
He bounced it to the right and sped down the sideline to the goal line.
“I had to set it up at first,” he said. “But I was able to kick it outside and all I saw was green grass. You just have to eat that up.”
Washington was a preseason star, but has mostly settled into a complementary role behind Ashton Jeanty in the backfield.
The fourth-round pick out of Arkansas had 10 carries for 48 yards in the first two games and handled just five totes on Sunday.
He made the most of the opportunity, however, crossing one accomplishment off his checklist.
“I didn’t know how it was going to happen,” he said of his first NFL touchdown. “I knew I was going to get in somehow, some way. But I didn’t really know. That was great.
“The long run makes it pretty cool. But just scoring is the blessing.”
Washington figures to be an important weapon for the Raiders. While Jeanty handles the majority of the workload, Washington can be a home run threat.
He showed that in the preseason and he certainly showed it on Sunday’s scoring run when the Raiders were trailing by 11 late in the third quarter.
“Nobody panicked. That was the big key to the comeback,” he said. “We know we have everything we need to be successful. We just had to finish.”
Washington knows he’s capable of producing. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry on 23 attempts in the preseason to build the trust of his teammates and coaches at a time Jeanty was dealing with an ankle injury.
Now he has proven he can make plays when the games count, as well.
Washington said he is starting to feel like he’s getting back to the level he was performing at during preseason, but it’s only the next step.
“There’s so much more to learn and so much growing to do,” he said. “That’s my biggest thing right now. I had a decent game.
“How can I have an even better one next week?”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
