Tuesday was a banner day for Derek Carr and Davante Adams. It was the first time they have faced on opponent together as Raiders, which means it’s the first time they’ve done it since their days at Fresno State. For Derek Carr, it was giving him some nostalgia.
“When we connect on one, I have had thoughts of like remembering a play when we did that [in college],” Carr said following the first day of joint practices. “I have those thoughts, I definitely do.”
Those are some good flashbacks too. Carr threw for 5083 yards and 50 touchdowns his senior season with the Bulldogs with Davante Adams catching almost half those TDs (24) along with over 1700 yards.
The two former college teammates connected several times in Tuesday’s scrimmages.
Early on, they were straight up torching Patriots defenders; first on a deep corner route with Adams beating Devin McCourty for a long touchdown. then on the other side of the field on a go route up the sideline in which Adams got wide open behind Jonathan Jones for a long score.
On both plays, Carr hit Adams in stride. The second one, Adams had a couple yards of separation, but didn’t have to slow down as Carr’s pass dropped right into the breadbasket. I think it’s safe to say they have some chemistry.
It’s that chemistry that had Carr talking about “exciting” it was to put it on the field against an opponent for the first time as Raiders.
“We were obviously looking forward to it,” Carr continued. “This is obviously . . . an important week for us. So, getting these reps is crucial for us. So, to be able to connect on some things was good, but the one or two… the one we missed on the left, we’re going to look at it and be hard on ourselves and say ‘how can we make that one?’ That’s what I learned from Coach Gruden was ‘Awesome, you completed 26 out of 29, but what happened on these three?’ Just keeping that mindset to always strive to be better.”
The two of them have one more day of these joint practices to work against an opponent. And that could very well be the only work they get against an opponent until the regular season. They have no appeared in any of the first three preseason games and likely won’t take the field for the actual preseason game with the Patriots on Friday either.
And from the looks of things today, they may not need it.