Davante Adams, Raiders
It has not been a normal year for the Las Vegas Raiders, not with the drama of a midseason coach firing and quarterback change, the remaking of the team’s defense, the utter change in attitude that came with the ascension of Antonio Pierce to the interim coach’s role and a stretch of improvement that nearly was enough to get the team into the NFL playoffs. But the loss to Indianapolis on Sunday eliminated the Raiders, which means it is not a normal year for star receiver Davante Adams, a guy who is accustomed to postseason football.
Adams played eight seasons in Green Bay and went to the playoffs six times. He has been with the Raiders for two years and has missed the playoffs both times. As he has done at several points this season, he expressed his frustration with the way things have unfolded at his locker after the game on Sunday.
“I mean, that’s been the story for us this year,” Adams said at his locker after the game. “It’s been more about us beating ourselves and not being able to either convert in situations that we should or having those penalties and obviously that makes it a lot harder to win the game. Definitely frustrating.”
Raiders Had Chances in 2023
What makes things worse for the Raiders this year is that the team has, at times, looked like a formidable and playoff-worthy bunch, especially after the chemistry improved following the firing of McDaniels. The two best wins of the season came in the weeks before the Colts game, with the Raiders responding to a demoralizing 3-0 loss to Minnesota with a record-breaking 63-21 win over the Chargers and a tough, physical road win over the defending-champion Chiefs.
But the Raiders’ penchant for unwise penalties showed itself again this week, after having been the least-penalized team in the league this season. The Raiders committed seven penalties on Sunday.
“It’s about the discipline and consistency,” Adams said. “We didn’t really display that today. We definitely had been better—we had been the least-penalized team, you know, situationally. Today we didn’t do that.”
Five one-score losses help sum up the frustration of losing out on the postseason, something Davante Adams and the Raiders are feeling a little more acutely than others.
“Every season that you don’t go to the playoffs is a missed opportunity,” Adams said. “All the teams in this league are good, it is just a matter of how you go out there and play, and we just didn’t play good enough to do that. Everybody, I’m sure, all the teams that have been eliminated, not just us, are frustrated. We definitely are a little extra just based off of what we have and the potential of this team.”
Davante Adams’ LVR Future in Question
Of course, it is bound to make any Raiders fan nervous when hearing Davante Adams speak of “frustration.” Of all the Raiders’ offseason question marks—and there are many—Adams is arguably the biggest, at least from a roster standpoint.
ESPN reported that the Jets tried hard to pry Adams away from the Raiders at the trade deadline, but the Raiders rebuffed every overture. Will that hold, though, after a second playoff-less season in Las Vegas for Adams? Perhaps the frustration of this past season will lead him to approach the front office (when the Raiders get a permanent one) with a trade request.
Hard to say. Had the Raiders won in Indianapolis and somehow slipped into the playoffs, it might not even be a question. But Adams is still without a postseason spot in Las Vegas, and the opportunity to rejoin old friend Aaron Rodgers in New York could be tempting for him.
And while his present is ladened with frustration, his future could yet be wide open.