-
Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
HENDERSON, Nev. — There was no celebratory cigar smoke emanating out of the Las Vegas Raiders‘ locker room Sunday following their historic 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, as there had been after home wins over the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Rather, those were contrails from a frustrated Davante Adams, the Raiders’ All-Pro receiver long gone from the Allegiant Stadium home locker room before media members were allowed in.
Late Tuesday afternoon, some 48 hours after his team fell in the lowest-scoring indoor game in NFL history, and with the Raiders (5-8) preparing to play host to the Los Angeles Chargers (5-8) on Thursday night on a short week, Adams described his frustration.
“You want to be a part of history,” Adams said. “But never that type.”
Both the Raiders and Vikings were coming in off bye weeks, and the Raiders now have lost three straight games.
“I mean, it’s embarrassing, too,” he added. “Not that that’s the main thing that drives it, but you walk off that field and you’ve got a lot of fans that pay their money to come to see you play and you go up and put up a goose egg. It almost looked worse that they only scored three [points], too.
“You’ve seen plenty of teams win, 20, 22-0, whatever, but when the other team wins by three and they only score three, it just looks horrible. So, hopefully we don’t make any more history like that on this side.”
How long did it take Adams to get over it, or is he still not over it?
“I mean, I’m moving past it,” he said. “I’m not over it, but I’m past it, for sure.
“It’s just, we couldn’t really get a rhythm, couldn’t establish really anything in the game. Once we did, we obviously turned the ball over and we just didn’t make it easy on ourselves. So, that’s what you’re going to get if you can’t convert third down. If you can’t have explosive plays, it’s going to look like that.”
It has been an up (13 catches for 172 yards and 2 TDs against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3) and down (1 catch for 11 yards at the Detroit Lions in Week 8, 53 yards receiving on 7 catches against the Vikings) season for Adams, who has had only one score since Week 3.
After hauling in 100 catches on 180 targets for 1,516 yards and a career-best 15.2 yards-per-catch average with an NFL-high 14 TDs last season, Adams is on pace for 99 catches on 167 targets for 1,134 yards (the 11.5 yards-per-catch average would be the second-lowest of his career) and just 5 TDs, which would tie for the third-fewest of his 10-year career.
Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce has said he wants rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell to take deeper shots in games.
“Teams have played a lot of two-high [safeties] against us and try to limit our opportunities down the field because they know we have good skill players, and so it’s just trying to be patient, take them when they come, but also be smart with it,” O’Connell said. “It’s not unique to us, but we’re trying to find the balance of being aggressive and being smart.”
Riding a three-game losing streak and closing out with games against the Chargers, at the Kansas City Chiefs (8-5), at the Indianapolis Colts (7-6) and home against the Denver Broncos (7-6), Adams said the Raiders still have attainable goals.
“That window is not closed yet, but yes, we’re playing for pride, for our name on the back, the front and all that,” he said. “So, there’s lots still to play for.”