The Las Vegas Raiders are in a Do or Die Scenario with their Backs on the Wall
If the show “Receiver” on Netflix has taught us one thing– it’s Davante Adams’ disdain with the Las Vegas Raiders’ quarterback situation. Forget the inside look at the receiver position, forget the exciting characters, hell even forget the fact that there’s a tight end in there. Pay attention to Adams.
Rather quickly the Vegas star has found himself embroiled in trade rumors from nearly every pundit in the football world. Swirling around the Raiders is gossip of Adams being shipped off to the Jets in a thorough stripping of the team with new full-time head coach Antonio Pierce. Adams was notable on the show, voicing disdain with the organization after forcing his way out of Green Bay to play with his college teammate Derek Carr, only for Carr to get shipped off to New Orleans one season in.
His time with Carr’s successor, Jimmy Garropolo was less than ideal, going as far as to say he, “signed off on [Garropolo’s] benching.” It’s obvious the Raiders haven’t lived up to what Adams thought they’d be. A coaching staff filled with turnover unlike the relative stability he had in Green Bay and a team fresh off a relocation doesn’t usually make for the easiest of times– but it’s what Adams wanted. Now, it all seems up in the air.
“The frustration comes in midseason, when we haven’t made the progress that we need,” Adams said last month. “At this point, you’re not a very mature or experienced football player if you’re getting frustrated in mandatory minicamp. Obviously, I get frustrated at every play if it doesn’t work, like, to a certain degree, but it’s not frustration where you’re losing hope in your teammates or yourself or the potential of what you can do as a team.
It’s more like, I got a standard and definitely everybody in this circle knows that I’ve a very high standard for myself, so if I run a go route and [the] ball is overthrown, I’m going to be probably cussing on the sideline for a second.”
If anything, this is a make or break year for the Raiders. On one hand, a winning season truly solidifies Pierce’s place as the true head coach under the aegis of the Al Davis regime. Davis was reluctant to take on interim head coaches full-time if you’ll remember, even if they were popular. After the rapid and blunt firing of John Gruden, Rich Bisaccia became a interim coach that was wanted back by nearly everyone on the organization.
MORE ON PIERCE: The Raiders Desperately Need a Spark, Could Antonio Pierce Be Just That?
Bisaccia
ended the 2022 season on the Green Bay Packers. A winning season will finally put some continuity back in the place of the Raiders. If there’s one thing that kills a football team, it’s turnover. But on the other hand, anything north of frustration for the team will lead to Adams’ exit.With Adams’ gone, this offense will have to take on new life without a spark, something the team has already been teetering on. Pierce is the type of guy to put a saddle on a gift horse instead of looking it in the teeth, but what good is it if his gift horse packs up and heads for New York? Pierce doesn’t have the best draft class in the world to fall back on either.
Brock Bowers looks to be a generational talent, but all the chips seem to be riding on the quarterback in this race. Aidan O’Connell finished the season, but Gardner Minshew has arrived. Only a couple years removed from “Minshew-mania”, Gardner has done everything but quiet the qualms in Vegas. Put bluntly, the Raiders need to prove they can get it done without a quarterback– and they need to do well or else this entire operation comes crashing down.
Minshew recorded career highs in wins– seven, and passing yards with 3,305. Now, the quarterback does have an underwhelming 59:24 TD-to-INT ratio over five seasons, but with a team like the Raiders, you might need a little bit more than that.
Vegas needs to win and fast. The team can’t afford to fall into a slump anytime during the season because in the hyper-competitive AFC West, and sign of distraught is blood in the water for the Chargers and Chiefs. The team moved here in 2020 with hopes of success– drawn by the flashing lights and superstars. But in four years they’re out two franchise quarterback hopefuls, one pissed off WR1 deep, and had to bankroll four head coaches. The Raiders are pinned and the only way to get out is to win.
Simple enough, but it’s much easier said than done. Al Davis expects perfection in every form of the game, and the Las Vegas Raiders have been the exact opposite.
