Most are definitely talking about Davante Adams cooking Patrick Surtain II. The walk-off 35-yard touchdown catch by the Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver immolated the talented Denver Broncos cornerback in the Silver and Black’s 22-16 overtime win Sunday – and it deserves all-day type praise.
The game-winner was a play executed to perfection by Adams, as he feigned going inside before planting his foot and angling back outside on the double move. I mean, come on, the separation Adams created between Surtain and safety Justin Simmons was outlandishly wide.
Davante Adams cooked Patrick Surtain II today but good lord, this was 🥶 #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/Z35kQixtp3
— RaiderRamble.comâ„¢ (@TheRaiderRamble) November 21, 2022
You gotta sell it…Â
“Just gotta sell it,” Adams said during the postgame media scrum. “Route-running is really just about the sameness within each route. I tried to give him a look, and that’s why he dove over the top the way that he did. He thought he had a jump on it.”
“I was driving on the cross end,” Surtain II said during the Broncos’ postgame media session. “(Adams) went on a double move. I should have kept my leverage, but I have to correct that.”
What would also be correct is not forgetting the play that got the Raiders in prime position for Adams’ bye-bye-wave TD: The Foster Moreau Walk on Water Seam Buster.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr found the tight end for a 33-yard catch and run (Moreau’s only reception of the game, by the way) to the Broncos’ 35-yard line.
“That’s huge,” Adams said. “They will talk about the last play of the game, but that one set it up. Big-time playmaking is contagious.”
The Raiders’ head coach hadn’t used the seam buster
McDaniels hasn’t used the seam buster this season, it turns out.
“It just felt like they focused a lot of attention on (Adams), and everybody does; you’re hoping for a chance at a chunk play,” McDaniels said. “In order to score in overtime, you’re probably thinking that you need a couple chunkers in there at some point. Foster made a great read on the play.”
Great reads were something regularly absent during Sunday’s matchup between the AFC West cellar dweller Raiders and Broncos, however. If not for the fact Denver’s impotent offense simply is the gift that keeps giving, Las Vegas should’ve gotten another L in their long line of them. But Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson can’t help but be dangerous (likely to sell his non-existent “Dangerwich” Subway sandwich), and instead of taking a clock-draining sack on third down during Denver’s final offensive drive, he inexplicably threw it away and conserved time. That gave the Raiders 1:43 left to work with.
And from that timestamp on, Denver’s statistically superior and top-ranked defense (heading in) went Raider-esque lax. When the Broncos needed to, they couldn’t stop the Carr/McDaniels offense. If that sentence alone doesn’t sum up the ineptitude of Denver’s defense, I don’t know what to tell you.
Two key plays stood out
Two chunk plays, a 21-yard pass from Carr to wideout Keelan Cole and an absolute dime from Carr to running back Josh Jacobs, put Las Vegas in prime position to win the game with a touchdown or tie the game at 16-all. The catch-and-run to Jacobs was of particular brilliance as the tailback smoked a Denver linebacker and Carr knew the play would be there before No. 28 went vertical.
“I had a certain read that I was going through, and when Josh made a great move and was able to outrun the linebacker, I kept my eyes downfield,” Carr said. “I knew in the back of my head that he was there. When I peeked over, he had won, and I just tried to give him a nice ball so he could catch it and run. He almost scored. It was really impressive.”
It was truly impressive to see the Raiders rebound after two horrendous weeks. At the same time, it was equally impressive to see the Broncos’ defense get tea bagged by the truly ragamuffin Raiders.
Sunday’s victory definitely sent Las Vegas into jubilation—the locker room celebration video was proof of that. But does it move the needle? We shall see. The Raiders have mastered the art of the letdown so well that it’s hard to fathom a true run from here on in.
But what Las Vegas did show was this: just when you think the Raiders are truly something awful, the Denver Broncos are ready and willing to prove they’re a lot worse.
And for McDaniels — the failed head honcho for the horsemen — that’s gotta be satisfying AF.
*Top Photo: AP Photo/Jack Dempsey