Getty Davante Adams, Raiders
A bit of simple math reveals that it is, indeed, better to be 2-3 at this point in the NFL season than 1-4. With Monday’s win over the Packers now behind them and the focus moving to the very beatable Patriots, the Raiders should feel pretty good about themselves.
Perhaps some of them do. Star receiver Davante Adams is not one of them, though. The 17-13 tally over Green Bay, which was rescued late by the defense, did not much impress Adams, not as the star on a piddling offense that has yet to top 18 points this season. Adams thinks the Raiders need to start doing more than just win—they need to start blowing some doors off.
He referenced getting a “winning mentality,” then further explained.
“What I said more was about not even making this as close as what it was,” Adams said this week, via the team website. “Because a game like that, we need to have some type of convincing victories that way we can really hold on to that feeling, not the feeling of just squeezing out. Obviously, defense did a great job coming through in the clutch at the end of the game, but we didn’t do much to help them out there. And we haven’t been this year, so that’s more what I’m focused on, rather than just squeezing victories by and being happy at that.”
Offense Still Struggling for the Raiders
Indeed, the offense remains a work in progress, though whatever progress we’ve seen has been incremental and has not shown up on the scoreboard.
There are excuses aplenty. The rebuilt offense played its first game together in Week 1 on an ugly field in Denver and still came up with a win thanks to some key plays late in the game. Week 2 was a throwaway in Buffalo, and the Week 3 loss to Pittsburgh was a comedy of errors led by coach Josh McDaniels and three interceptions by Jimmy Garoppolo.
Week 4? No Jimmy G. meant the career debut of Aidan O’Connell, and the Raiders might have won if AOC had not had so many early jitters.
Along the way, the Raiders have rediscovered their running game (they’ve had a season high in run yards each of the last three weeks, and had 96 in Week 5) and against the Packers, Garoppolo branched out for the first time, with passes attempted for nine different Raiders targets. And a win.
Good, right? Not for Adams.
“I feel like there’s more to take from a game than just the win or loss,” he said. “Depending on it, you can be on either side. Obviously, you’d rather win regardless, but you can win a game and look sh***y, and we’ve done that too many times. So, we gotta start changing the way it looks.”
Davante Adams: Beware the Patriots
While Adams was warning the Raiders about playing better even in wins, he was also warning about playing a wounded opponent like the Patriots, who will come into Sunday’s game at 1-4.
New England has been abysmal in its last two games, losing both by a combined score of 72-3, and facing questions about whether it is time to dump quarterback Mac Jones and move on from coach Bill Belichick.
“It’s just one of those games where you can’t be fooled into thinking that is not a solid team because of the record,” Adams said. “We have to keep in mind the history of that organization and who’s coaching over there. They do have a lot of players who can make plays. So, it’s one of those games that you have to kind of dive into the tape and make sure you know who you’re playing against, that way you don’t get fooled thinking that based off of the 1-4 record, that it’s going to be an easy game.”