Davante Adams happy to beat former team despite meager stat line

Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams knew what was coming if his new team didn’t find a way to beat his old one Monday night at Allegiant Stadium.

“I wish I could have sent them off with a few more plays made, but at the end of the day we beat them,” Adams said after catching four passes for 45 yards in a 17-13 win over the Packers. “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. You want to beat everybody, but today was definitely a little more sweet.”

Adams spent the first eight years of his career in Green Bay before being traded to the Raiders before last season, a move he made clear to the Packers that he desired.

He wasn’t able to practice much this week because of a shoulder injury he suffered Oct. 1 against the Chargers. Adams was questionable to play and had his lowest statistical production of the season, but did secure all four targets and pulled in three passes in a span of four plays on what proved to be the game-winning touchdown drive in the third quarter.

“We just found a way to execute,” Adams said. “Got a call for me, and I went up and won the matchups. It’s as simple as that, basically.”

Adams shared a conversation and an embrace before the game with Packers coach Matt LaFleur. He had similar moments with several former teammates, coaches and staffers after a full week of questions for both teams about how the reunion would play out.

“It was hard not to be friendly with a lot of those guys over there just because I’m so used to being on the same side of the field with them,” Adams said. “There’s a lot of respect out there on both sides. … Still glad we beat them, but it was good to see those guys.”

As for the shoulder, Adams acknowledged he was still in pain.

“Not great, but good enough to get through,” he said. “Better than a week ago. I’ll be playing. It will take time to heal, but I’ll be out there.”

Clock management

Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said he decided against calling a timeout after a third-down stop in the second quarter based on a variety of factors, including the possibility the Raiders wouldn’t be able to move the ball on offense.

The Raiders had two timeouts remaining when Tyler Hall tackled Luke Musgrave short of the first-down marker with about 1:46 left in the second quarter. Green Bay allowed the play clock to run all the way down before punting, giving the Raiders just 55 seconds to work with from their own 24-yard line.

“I thought we were still going to have a minute or so and be able to use the two timeouts (on offense),” McDaniels said. “There are a lot of things going through your head there, like, if you get it back with too much time and leave time on the clock if you don’t do exactly what you want to do.”

The Raiders eventually worked their way into field goal range, using their timeouts after first-down completions over the middle. Once they got in field goal range, there wasn’t enough time to try to go for a touchdown. A long field-goal attempt was eventually blocked.

“I thought our guys handled that situation the right way,” he said. “We used both timeouts after big chunk plays and at least gave ourselves an opportunity to score there and get the ball back to start the third quarter. So I did consider (calling a timeout), but I thought having the two timeouts would also be valuable for us on offense, and if for some reason we didn’t do what we wanted to do, we would give them a lot less time if the ball ended up changing hands.”

Taking a dive

Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby said cornerback Marcus Peters got on him about a silly personal foul penalty in the first quarter when Crosby hit Packers right tackle Zach Tom after the whistle.

While Crosby acknowledged it’s a flag he he has to avoid, he did offer a slight caveat.

“Even though the dude, whatever that was, flopped or whatever,” Crosby said.

When asked to judge the flop on scale of 1 to 10 as if were an Olympic dive, Crosby paused.

“No comment,” he laughed.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.