With their season on the brink of going completely off the rails, the Las Vegas Raiders came out on fire against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Riding star receiver Davante Adams, the Raiders jumped out to a 17-0 lead, with Adams totaling 146 yards on nine catches in the first half.
But the Raiders were outscored 17-0 in the second half, and Adams had just one catch for no yards as the Raiders ultimately fell in Jacksonville 27-20. It was the third time this season the Raiders lost a game in which they led by at least 17 points, and afterward, Adams did not hide his frustration, according to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
“There’s no reason why we should be losing games like this, and it’s frustrating,” Adams said at his locker after a lengthy talk with Carr. “If we played for a s—ty team, then it’s one thing. But that’s not what it is.”
Davante Adams and many others on the roster have full belief that the talent is there for this team to be successful, but too many times, the Raiders simply haven’t come through. On this day, the Raiders seemed to have a good thing going early but went away from it in the second half.
This obviously didn’t sit well with Adams, but he also understands that there is a need for the Raiders to establish the run and get Josh Jacobs going. But in the end, the star receiver is simply frustrated at the team’s shortcomings:
“So, I understand that part of it,” he said, “but I also understand the part that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s kind of the way I think … so at the end of the day, we don’t need to make it any spicier than it needs to be, but I think y’all feel me on that.
“We did a decent enough job to still put ourselves in a decent position moving into the second half, and then, we just basically fell apart. I don’t even know how else to even characterize it. But it’s frustrating. Ain’t no way we should be losing games at the rate we are, let alone the way that we are, and over the middle at the end of the game, I’ve got to make a play on that ball.”
The fact that they are able to build these leads shows that they have the makings of a good team which surely adds to the frustration throughout the locker room. As Adams said, it would be one thing if this was just a terrible team, but that obviously isn’t the case.
Nonetheless, there is something that continues to hold the Raiders back when it matters most, and now it looks like the season will be a massive disappointment because of it.
