While a season is in full swing, players usually don’t let on just how frustrated they are. But with the tumultuous 2023 season for the Raiders now firmly in the past, along with many of the causes of that tumult now gone, we can look back and see just how bad it had gotten.
This week, the Netflix series Receiver was released. Among the five receivers featured is Raiders All Pro Davante Adams. And along with that, we get an inside look at just how frustrating things had gotten for Adams and the Raiders under the reign of former head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler.
We start to see the wheels falling off in episode three of of the series. That’s when Adams is getting increasingly frustrated because he has an injured shoulder and believes that, along with the hit that caused the injury, he is getting hit a lot more than he ever was in the first nine years of his career.
Likely making the pain a lot less bearable was the fact that he was not seeing accurate red zone and deep targets. While the offense had yet to crack 20 points in a game.
His frustration comes to a head in episode four of the series. After an ugly loss to the Bears in Week seven he vents his frustrations to the sympathetic ears of his best friend and his barber. While seeming to not care one bit that the entire rant was being filmed.
Davante Adams went off in episode four of Receiver about his frustration with the first seven games of last season. pic.twitter.com/7AsoTd42Sb
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) July 12, 2024
Davante may catch some flak for saying his benchmark is not wins and losses but rather greatness. After all, we all like for players to say individual performance doesn’t matter at all. That nothing matters but wins and losses. But, for Davante, all he can do is control what he can control. And striving for greatness is doing just that.
Besides, he clarifies that statement by adding that it’s not just about him, but rather it’s two parts to the same equation.
“If it don’t look right and I’m not getting opportunities well then now we got a problem,” said Davante. “That’s what I’m here for…and if I’m not being given the proper amount of opportunities and it looks like dogs–t on offense, it’s time to do something about it.”
In other words, if the offense is working well and he isn’t the focal point, fine. But if the offense is not working AND he’s not getting the ball, then there’s a problem.
He’s not wrong. And in most cases, that mindset is what ultimately decides whether a team wins or loses.
It didn’t take long for the last few words of his statement to become reality. Not a week later the Raiders *did* do something about it.
A bad loss to the Lions brought the frustrations to a head for Adams. Passes from Jimmy Garoppolo were all over the field and he found Adams just once for 11 yards on seven attempts.
Several Lions players were overheard talking about how frustrated Adams must be with his QB and his offense.
The next day, the architects of that offense were fired and the quarterback was benched. Moves Davante said he not only signed off on, but his remaining with the Raiders may have hinged upon it.
Thus began the Antonio Pierce era in Las Vegas, along with a new energy on the Raiders. They won their first game while the offense scored over 20 points (30) for the first time all season. Davante had just four catches for 34 yards, but he was excited the offense functioned properly. And gave the game ball to his new quarterback, Aidan O’Connell.
The new energy the Raiders had after that is something we should see more of as the series continues.