Adams avoids ‘narrative’ with win vs. former team

LAS VEGAS — Davante Adams‘ injured right shoulder was in pain after the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Green Bay Packers 17-13 on Monday night.

But it would have hurt a lot worse had Adams, who needed help removing his shoulder pads in the locker room, and his new team not been able to defeat his old team.

“It was good,” he said of facing Green Bay, which drafted him in 2014 and traded him to Las Vegas in 2022.

“I wish I could have been able to send them off with a few more plays made, but at the end of the day, we beat them. Now nobody can make up this crazy narrative and talk about how I shouldn’t have left and all of this stuff that was getting ready to come if we didn’t win. So, glad to get that win over them today. We just want to beat everybody.”

Adams suffered the injury at the Los Angeles Chargers last week, when he was slammed to the SoFi Stadium artificial turn by cornerback Michael Davis. Adams returned to the game but missed two days of practice this past week, before being a limited participant on Saturday and listed as questionable for “Monday Night Football.”

Adams had only one catch, on one target, in the first half against the Packers, for 12 yards. But he came to life in a quick third-quarter burst with three receptions in four plays — for 21, 5 and 7 yards — on slant passes to help set up running back Josh Jacobs‘ 2-yard touchdown run at the start of the fourth that proved to be the winning score.

“We just found a way to execute,” said Adams, who finished with those four catches for 45 yards. “Got a call for me and then I just went up and won the matchup, and it was as simple as that, basically.”

Adams was matched up against linebacker Preston Smith on his 21-yard pickup.

“Yeah, that’s happened a lot when Davante was playing for us: You put a receiver in the slot — you get ‘penny,’ or five bigs on the field, and a lot of times that ‘backer has to walk and you’re playing quarters coverage and that’s what happens,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s obviously not the most advantageous for us, so whether we can get a check and get out of that look for us, but credit to them. They schemed it up, they knew what to do when we put that personnel in the game, and I can remember games when we did that to teams.

“That just happens sometimes, but obviously want to have better answers than that.”

“I wish I could have been able to send them off with a few more plays made, but at the end of the day, we beat them. Now nobody can make up this crazy narrative and talk about how I shouldn’t have left and all of this stuff that was getting ready to come if we didn’t win. So, glad to get that win over them today.”

Raiders WR Davante Adams

Still, Adams did acknowledge the relationships he had forged on the other side of the ball.

“It was hard not to be friendly with a couple of those guys out there just because I’m so used to being on the same side of the field with them,” Adams said. “It was a lot of respect out there, on both sides. So, it was good to see them, good to chop it up before and after. And like I said, still glad we beat them, but it was good to see those guys.”

And as far as his sore shoulder, with a short week upcoming with the New England Patriots in Las Vegas on Sunday?

“Not great, but it’s good enough to get through it,” Adams said. “It’s better than a week ago.

“I’m going to be playing. But, I mean, it’s got to take time to heal, but I’ll be out there.”