Jacobs or Adams? Defenses face tough call on which Raider to focus on slowing

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Watch Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams closely enough during warm-ups before kickoff of a Raiders’ game, and at some point you’ll see them come together for a quick conversation.

No one outside of the team can hear what the team’s two biggest offensive stars are saying to each other, but Adams shared the gist of the exchange last week.

“I say, ‘It’s you and me all day,’” Adams described. “We are two of the people that are relied on a lot on this team to get this offense going and we recognize that. We’re ready for the burden that comes with it. So, I just remind him. Josh is a dog, so at the end of the day it’s not something we need to talk about but it’s something that we like to use as a spark to one another to get it going in the right direction out of the gate.”

Adams and Jacobs have brought the best out of each other all year especially during the Raiders’ (4-7) two-game win streak that’s revived some hope in their season. And it’s not just from a motivational perspective.

Both players are having record-breaking seasons in part because of the chances they’re creating for each other. Opponents are often having to decide whether they want to double Adams in coverage or deploy an extra defender in the box for run support.

There’s been no right answer recently, as either the running back or the top receiver has taken advantage of the attention on the other.

“I said at the beginning of the year when we added Davante, ‘The happiest person in the building besides me is going to be Josh Jacobs,’” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said Sunday after a win over the Seahawks. “We’re seeing the fruits of that now.”

Carr isn’t exaggerating; he’s repeated that same phrase ad nauseum dating back to the offseason. But maybe he can stop now because of how perceptible the impact Jacobs and Adams have on each other has become.

Two weeks ago in an overtime win against the Broncos, Adams caught a 35-yard game-winning touchdown as part of a day where he had seven catches for 141 receiving yards. It was only short time before that when Jacobs said he went to Adams and the receivers to challenge them “to make a play” because of how much manpower the Broncos were utilizing to stop the run.

It flipped last week against the Seahawks, which were determined not to get beaten by Adams and therefore “bracketed him a bunch,” according to Raiders coach Josh McDaniels. That played a big factor in allowing Jacobs to set franchise highs for rushing yards (229) and scrimmage yards (303) including an 86-yard game-winning overtime touchdown.

“Those two guys, they’re very adept at understanding the way (the game) is going and how that presents opportunities for themselves,” McDaniels said.

The question now becomes which of the two skill players the Chargers key in on in the AFC West rival’s Week 13 game on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

On the one hand, Jacobs was the biggest reason the Raiders eliminated the Chargers from the playoffs in the final regular season game last year with a then career-high 132 rushing yards. Run defense has also been their biggest weakness ever since coach Brandon Staley took over last year.

But Adams was a much bigger problem for the Chargers when the two teams met in Week 1 this season, a 24-19 Raiders’ loss. In his Las Vegas debut, Adams had 10 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.

“I don’t know why you would ever want a one-on-one with (Adams) or anything like that.” Jacobs said. “The guy is who he is. He’s one of the best at his position in this game so I’m honestly honored and humbled to have him on my team.”

Jacobs is now the NFL’s leading rusher, with 1,159 yards on the season, and on pace to break Marcus Allen’s single-season record 1,759 rushing yards in his 1985 MVP season. His record-breaking performances have drawn all the recent focus, but Adams has been just as prolific.

The former Green Bay Packer is fourth in the NFL with 999 receiving yards and second with 10 receiving touchdowns. He’s the first Raider pass-catcher with double-digit receiving touchdowns since Tim Brown in 2000.

Adams will be the first say Jacobs’ success has helped foster his own. Finding skill players to take pressure off Adams was always going to be an emphasis but tight end Darren Waller and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow were most expected to fill those roles coming into the season.

That hasn’t turned out to be possible with both of them on injured reserve and won’t be for at least one more game. Waller and Renfrow are eligible to return for a Week 14 game at the Los Angeles Rams, but McDaniels wouldn’t commit to that being when they came back on Wednesday.

So, it’s going to keep being Jacobs and Adams helping each other now, and with the way things are currently trending, that should be enough for the Raiders.

“I think our players are learning how that works: They try to take this away, we’ve got to try to do something else,” McDaniels said. “There’s a game within the game. Sometimes it doesn’t declare until a game is a quarter, a quarter and a half into it and then you kind of figure out what the plan is that you’re going to see all day.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or