Davante Adams kept it brutally honest in his assessment of the win against his former team, the Green Bay Packers. While happy to get a win, the Raiders All-Pro wideout was not pleased with the manner in which it was achieved.
Obviously, you’d rather win regardless, but you can win and still look shitty, and we’ve done that too many times. So, you have to start changing the way it looks. – Davante Adams
The Raiders offense isn’t filling any seats
Lets keep it real: The Raiders have won two games with only 17 points on offense. Additionally, they have yet to score at least 20 points in a game period. The most explosive play of the year for the Silver and Black was a jet sweep to Tre Tucker for 34 yards. Long gone are the days of Daryl ‘The Mad Bomber’ Lamonica, or the explosive offenses of John Madden, Tom Flores, and to a lesser extent, Jon Gruden.
Instead, we have a mixture of ineffective run blocking and a lack of above-average professional-level arm talent from the quarterback position. An offensive juggernaut built around both the defending NFL’s leading rusher and the leading touchdown receiver one season ago can’t seem to get right. Even more baffling is the fact that the scheme isn’t the problem, nor is the talent; it’s more-so a timing and execution issue.
It’s the little things, which always seem to lead to plays not being made and points not being scored. For years, Raider Nation has begged for an average defense and complimentary football. However, the offense isn’t holding up its end of the bargain; they are 18/55 (33%) on third-down conversions and leading the league in both interceptions and giveaways.
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 the 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. – Adams
Squandering gifts
Turnovers come in bunches: A football cliche straight out of the fictitious football bible. One which held true for the Raiders defense. After Robert Spillane‘s first interception of Jordan Love, the offense took over at the seven yard-line in Green Bay territory and couldn’t punch it in. Not only did they not get into the end zone, but they lost yards in three plays and were relegated to kicking a field goal.
Old reliable Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson had one field goal blocked and flat out missed another. Six points off the board, which led to a four point victory.
On the season, the Raiders’ offense in goal-to-go situations is converting a paltry 54% (6/11) and only 50% (8/16) inside the red zone. These percentages simply aren’t good enough. Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler’s reason for necessitating the former quarterback’s replacement was lack of production in the aforementioned areas. Only to be getting nearly an identical result from a different player.
As of now, the underperformance of this team is staggering. Why can’t they figure it out? An honest question with an answer that is eluding the likes of Davante Adams and the other members of the offense on the field, as well as the head coach.
The long and the short
All of Raider Nation is on board with Adams’ assessment. Moreover, with the addition of Jakobi Meyers, the Raiders have one of the best receiving trios in the league. The offensive line and it’s blocking woes are severely limiting the production of the offense. So are half-field only reads and a quarterback who is not properly extending plays long enough to hit someone on something other than a checkdown.
Adams is speaking nothing but facts and blessing us with a peek behind the NFL curtain. While coach McDaniels may be A-ok with winning games by a point, Adams wants more. Davante Adams wants flashy wins and so do I.
*Top Photo: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
