Davante Adams Talks Las Vegas Raiders Week Two
HENDERSON, Nev.-Davante Adams against the Lo Angles Chargers showed the world why he is the best WR in the National Football League.
After his stellar performance, Adams took time to reflect on that game, the state of the Silver and Black, and look ahead to his first game at home in Allegiante Stadium.
You can watch his entire press conference below, and read the transcript.
Wide Receiver Davante Adams
Q: The move you put on Asante Samuel went viral on social media. What were some of the reactions you got, and when you do something like that, do you take time to enjoy it? Do you enjoy the memes?
Adams: "I got a lot of good reactions from it, a lot of people reached out. I saw a lot of comments and stuff like that on social media. I'm thinking about the next time I'm going to do it. After you put it on tape one time, I forget about it usually and then I move on to the next route. That's the expectation I have myself, especially when I get isolated like that, I expect to make the DB look like that. If I'm on my Q's and doing my thing, that's the standard."
Q: As a wideout, when you see how the defense is lined up and it may differ from what the play might be, what's your mindset as the cadence is being called?
Adams: "Obviously, you have to see pre snap and then assess what it looks like post snap as well and then that'll give you a lot of information. But I do so much film study and I've been doing it for a long time now to the point were based off of leverages and stuff like that I typically know what's coming. Because if a guy’s going to cheat super far outside - it doesn't really matter if I talk about it at the end of the day because they're going to play what they play - but if a guys cheated outside, and he's pressed, typically that means he can't let me outside and that he's got help inside somewhere. So, I start to put all that together as I get lined up, and then I look at the shell, look where the star or the nickel is located because that gives away a lot of information as well. Every coverage you have something where you can't give something up as a DB or a linebacker in the pass game for that matter. So, at the end of the day, you have to alert it both see what it looks like pre-snap and then once the play gets going typically that lets me know if I have any adjustments in my route, if anything has to change, protect anybody else on the field and different things like that. Like I said before, if they want to double or if they want to roll coverage my way or do things like that, that's just going to open up the run game or open it up for other guys down the field as well."
Q: Is there a timeline that you typically have to get a good feel for what a team is all about?
Adams: "I mean you want to establish an identity as fast as possible obviously, and that doesn't happen week one whether it's good or bad regardless. It's going to take some time to get going and really figure out who you are as a squad whether it's on one side of the ball or all together. As time goes by, you can figure that out but the consistency of it is really what establishes who you are. If we would've went out there and scored 50 points, nobody's going to be running around the building feeling like we figured it out. At the end of the day, it takes an accumulation of a lot of good things or a lot of bad things to determine who you are as a team. Like I said after the game, there was a lot of good things we put on tape, a lot of things we can build off of and that's what our main focus is on right now."
Q: How excited are you to be playing your first game in the Allegiant Stadium this Sunday?
Adams: "I'm excited, man. I know I've been getting a lot of good feedback from the fans and seeing the things they've been saying and hearing them in the preseason in the stadium and them being excited to see me play. It’s a lot more of obviously what happened this past game that I'm hoping to put on tape and come out with some W's for this city. The warm welcome that I felt from them - I continue to feel it every day whether it's virtually or in person if I run into somebody. Real excited, can't wait to get out there."
Q: What does it mean to you going from the kid wearing a Tim Brown jersey to now on Sunday you’re going to go be at the Raiders stadium with a lot of kids wearing number 17?
Adams: "It means a lot, man. Like I said, it's a dream come true to be able to be here. It's a little different, I grew up in the Bay obviously, so it was the Oakland Raiders, but to move to Vegas and continue my dream and playing the game that I love - it really doesn't get much better than this."
Q: How important is it for you to go home sit down and have a conversation with Derek Carr about what's going on away from everything and have a good honest conversation?
Adams: "Me and Derek, we don't wait for Tuesday. Typically by the time we get on the bus or sometimes in the locker room - even this past game, y'all were in there so we weren't chopping it up too much about it then, but as soon as we get on the bus, as soon as we have an opportunity to talk, it's time to reflect, whether or not he threw for 500 (yards) or if it was a game like this past game. It's always something that you can build and be better at. That's typically how we look at it, and if there was some good stuff, we celebrate that stuff as well. We're not scared to feel good about our accomplishments. We put a lot into it, a lot of hard work and a lot of time and effort. We don't really stop and smell the roses the way everybody else does, but between us the way we converse we definitely like to acknowledge it that way you can even build off the stuff that you did. It's not just about, 'Look, we're so great,' but we talk about why we did well on certain plays or why we did well in the first half versus the second half and different things like that."
Q: What type of leadership have you seen from Chandler Jones?
Adams: "First of all, more than anything his vibe and his spirit day to day. I almost can't wait to see Chan in the morning, because you know what you’re going to get it. He's got an infectious type of personality. We joke around all the time, and he's a great guy just from a vibe standpoint. Then you get him on the field and then you talk about a guy - I think this is year 12 or so for him now - just the way he goes about his business, the type of examples that he sets, the type of leader that he is to a leader like Maxx [Crosby]. He can continue to help him grow as a leader as well. When you've got those type of years behind you and you come out and you still put it on tape the way that he does and attack the data the way that he does, he comes in and he's tapped in every day. That's all you can really ask from a leader like him."
Q: From your time in the league, have you seen any other type of leadership like that?
Adams: "No, I've seen it. I've definitely seen it. Obviously different personalities, maybe guys aren't as vocal or whatever. But Chan [Chandler Jones] is not the type of guy - he's not a big rah-rah dude. He's not going to come out and yell at you to do whatever. It may not even be a speech, but like I said, the way he gets up and he gets lined up and the way he attacks every single play and technicality about it. It's not just running around aimlessly. He knows what he's doing and there's a lot of intent to his work ethic. So, I've seen it before, but coming here to be a first year whether you're in your 16th year or your second year, anytime you change teams it's not easy to come into a new building and just establish yourself as a leader. So, the way he's done it is something that I can admire for sure."
Q: You mentioned that your grandparents have never seen you play professionally...
Adams: "Yeah, and they're coming. They're coming to the game. They'll be here, my grandma, we already got her set up at one of the MGM Resorts. She'll be in town, and then my daughter's birthday is next week, so she'll be out here just hanging out in Vegas probably on the slots or something chilling, just hanging out with us. So, it's good to have them in town."
Q: How many ticket requests did you get from the Adams family?
Adams: "Well, I got a suite. I spent about half a million dollars on a Raiders suite. That's probably the one bad thing about coming here is that the suites are significantly more expensive. But it's good for the family, I probably won't ever see it but it's fine."
Q: How much confidence does it give to a team when you have a great kicker, and you don't even have to think about it?
Adams: "That's definitely the way we think about it. It gives you a lot of confidence, it doesn't put as much pressure on you to score every single time. Obviously, that's the goal, but any time you can get out there and say, 'Okay, well we got stopped and we're on the 35 or the 42 or whatever,' and a guy can still put it through and you've got great confidence - it puts you at ease on offense a little bit and I'm sure the coaching staff as well. But like I said, our mindset is to put the ball in the end zone regardless, but when you have that to kind of lean on - not putting any extra pressure on him - but we do have that kind of confidence in him that he can go drill those."
Q: The Cardinals play really aggressive defense - a lot of man coverage, a lot of blitzing. As a receiver, does that speed up your clock at all or do you pretty much just go about things the same way?
Adams: "Same way. Anytime I get man coverage, I'm excited about that. So yeah, I hope they do that as much as possible."
The Las Vegas Raiders (0-1) kick off at home in Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, facing the Arizona Cardinals (0-1) at 1:25 PM PDT.
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