Jaguars 27, Raiders 20: How Did Jacksonville Force a Davante Adams Disappearing Act?

Where did Davante Adams go in the second-half? Josh McDaniels and Doug Pederson had different ideas.

Las Vegas is home to many magic acts, but few could offer the disappearing ability of Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams in Jacksonville in Week 9.

For one half of football, Adams looked like the dominant, alpha-male receiver who is a franchise-changer. For the other half of football, he was just another frustrated Raider, watching the Jaguars' defense stifle the Raiders in a 27-20 win after the Raiders got off to a 17-0 lead after two Adams touchdowns. 

"Yeah, first half obviously he had some big plays there. You know, we just regrouped at halftime. I don't think there were a ton of changes, quite frankly," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the game as the Jaguars limited Adams in every facet over the final two quarters. 

Adams was perfect in the first half, catching all nine of his targets for 146 yards and two touchdowns. This included several giant third- and fourth-down conversions and a 25-yard touchdown over second-year cornerback Tyson Campbell, who spent the game trailing him.

But in the second-half? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The Jaguars erased him, with Adams doing a bit of his own work to help.

Adams was targeted eight times in the second-half, catching one pass for 0 yards. The Raiders kept going at him, but whether it was Campbell, Andrew Wingard or Foyesade Oluokun, the Jaguars kept responding.

"The guys were in position in the second half. Listen, that's part of what we're trying to teach these guys here and how to win and to stay within themselves— just do their job," Pederson said. 

"In the second half they did that, and they got a great pass rush. We had our chances at some interceptions –we have to work that, obviously. Just a really good defensive performance in the second half."

"Second half, I tried to switch it up, you know, I just locked in even more because I knew I wanted to win the game so no, it was a great matchup. He is a great receiver," Campbell said.

"It just shows growth. As a corner, you know, you are going against great receivers, they are going to make their plays but you got to throw your punches too."

But while the Jaguars' coaches and players state that the change against Adams in the second-half was more the result of a well-executed game-plan, this isn't the same thing the Raiders and head coach Josh McDaniels saw.

"They gave us an element of some single coverage in the first half. I thought Derek [Carr] made -- Derek and Davante made a good play down the sideline on the one, and then we hit them on the little gadget there on the other one, and he had some production against I would say single coverage, and then the second half there was a little bit more split safety defense in general," McDaniels said. 

"We moved them. We moved them around. We had chances. Let's not sit here and say we didn't have chances. We certainly had chances in the second half to complete balls to him and anybody else. It wasn't like we didn't have opportunities there. So, they didn't like double him to the point where we couldn't throw the ball to him."

Photo: Alex Shepherd