There has been a pretty strong connecting fiber between getting the ball in Davante Adams’s hands and the Raiders success this season.
In the Raiders two wins this season, Adams had nine and eight catches respectively.
Alternatively, the Raiders have blown three leads of 17 points or more and were shut out by the Saints last week. In each of those collapses, Adams was almost completely taken out of the offense — something that simply never happened during the first eight years of his career.
Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars was the latest instance. And perhaps the most glaring.
Adams had nine catches on nine targets for 146 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. And the Raiders jumped out to a 17-0 lead to begin the game and led 20-10 at the half.
Then the second half arrived and Adams’s part in the offense disappeared. Adams had just one catch on eight targets for zero yards in the second half.
Understandably, he’s frustrated.
"…at all. But at the end of the day, if I’m rolling in certain situations like that, or if the pass game is something that’s helping us move the ball and win games, then, obviously, that’s the idea. You want to stick with what’s working.” (end)
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) November 6, 2022
Each time we have seen Adams’s part in the offense disappear, the reasoning from Derek Carr and the coaches has been that the opponent double teamed him. Which was always a flimsy excuse and gets more so each time that excuse is made.
Adams in a supreme route runner. He can get open consistently. And he does. In those instances, he either doesn’t get the ball or the pass isn’t put where it needs to be.
You also mean to tell me that at some point in his eight years in Green Bay, defenses didn’t start double teaming him just about every play? Without going through archives, I think we can safely say that started at least five years ago when he started going to Pro Bowls. And yet, he still went to five-straight Pro Bowls and was an All Pro each of the past two years.
While Adams has said he doesn’t need to get the ball all the time to be happy, the Raiders absolutely need to get him the ball to be successful. And taking him out of the offense and thus disrupting the Raiders offense is as simple as double-teaming him, they’ve got much bigger problems.
