Jeremy Chinn’s pick didn’t just snap the Raiders’ streak. It set an example

Jeremy Chinn smiled in the locker room as he held a game ball for sealing Sunday’s Las Vegas Raiders win against the New York Jets with an interception.

Chinn’s toe tap to haul in the pick from Jets quarterback Geno Smith drew appreciation in the film room, too, the safety said, as he had gracefully secured the 38-33 victory.

Targeted throughout the game and torched at times, the Raiders’ secondary passed the test in the end. Now as the Raiders head into Sunday’s game to face San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, one of the NFL’s most efficient passers, their veteran defensive backs highlighted the mindset it takes to persevere.

Cornerback Eric Stokes, who seemingly had Smith pick him as the Raiders’ defensive back to target, welcomes the challenge.

“I like it, you know what I’m saying?” Stokes said. “If you don’t embrace that, if you don’t feel for that, especially as a DB, and you try to run from it, that’s you not made for the moment. You running from the moment. Like, nah, man. Once I knew that was coming, every play, I was like, I want this. This is what you want from a corner. This is what you want from a DB.

“You can go ahead and keep trying and keep trying. I’m going to get you on one.”

Stokes was beaten for a touchdown that gave the Jets the lead at halftime, but also had two passes defensed in the red zone that led to Jets field goals. He said he kept a level head and encouraged his teammates to do so as well.

“In the fourth quarter, I was telling all the guys, ‘Come on. I just need one more drive. We just need one more drive. We just need one more play. It don’t even matter how everything else has been looking. It don’t even matter how everything else has been going,’” Stokes said.

Chinn said he wanted to not only encourage Stokes, but also have his back. And he did on that final play. But first he had to take on a next-play mentality from the previous play when he was penalized for unnecessary roughness on helmet-to-helmet contact after a Jets completion that gave them another 15 yards to the Raiders’ 35-yard line with 14 seconds left.

“I was a little disappointed because, to be real, with that penalty,” Chinn said. “I didn’t know how I could play it any differently trying to make a play on the ball. So that was unfortunate, but one thing that did help me was (linebacker Quay Walker). After the play, he was just like, ‘You’re good, Chinn.’ Just having teammates around me, we pick each other up.”

A team leader, Stokes acknowledged that veterans overcoming in-game struggles can help younger players. And the Raiders need their rookies who’ve started in the secondary to grow quickly. Darien Porter went down with a groin injury on the first play from scrimmage, and while he returned to limited practice Thursday, fourth-round pick Jermod McCoy could be pressed into significant action again against the 49ers.

“It don’t matter what happened last play,” Stokes said. “Just know you’re going to have to win, win, win win, win (the rep). Like you can go ahead and lose, but c’mon, man, you got to know for a fact this next one’s going to be mine. It don’t matter how this thing’s going or none of that stuff because you know for a fact this is a four-quarter game. It could go up, it could go down. You’ve just got to keep your emotions. You’ve got to be the same and just keep pushing.”

So when Smith made an ill-advised throw into the end zone, the seven-year veteran Chinn was there to capitalize — and set the example.

“That’s my dawg, so I was extremely happy with it,” Stokes said. “He closed the game.”

Contact Diamond Leung at [email protected]. Follow @diamond83 on X.