Why does Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams agree with coach Antonio Pierce’s criticism of the team?

Though it certainly bodes well for team harmony to see a player agreeing with his coach’s frank assessment of the team’s efforts, the fact still remains that the Raiders need to get back to winning ways and that will take more than listening to the coach’s critique. Indeed, it will require acting on it.

Davante Adams gives his take on Antonio Pierce’s criticism

In our previous report, we detailed what Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce had to say following his team’s blowout 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. Speaking during the postgame press conference, Pierce made it clear that he was not at all happy with his team and the effort that was made by his players .

“As the game went on, I think there were definitely some individuals who made business decisions, and we’ll make business decisions going forward as well,” Pierce said at the time. While it was never outlined as to who Pierce was referring to, there was some initial speculation about whether it could be star wide receiver Davante Adams who looked a frustrated figure during the defeat. Interestingly, that now appears to not be the case as Adams himself weighed in on the situation during a Tuesday appearance on Up & Adams where he told host Kay Adams that he is in fact in agreement with what Pierce said after the loss.

“Well, I mean, I agree,” Adams said. “I think at the end of the day, you look at the drives we had at the end of that game, and we didn’t really have much to play for other than pride. ... Just doing it for the Raiders logo and the name on the back as well. ... Obviously, we got beat by a team that we feel like we shouldn’t have gotten beat by. You can’t change the score late in the fourth and you just gotta put the best stuff you can on tape. ...I think a lot of people were doing that. And then there were some guys out there who were just trying to see another day. That’s really not what the game is about, and if you look at the tape across the whole game, it wasn’t really just late in the game. It was multiple times throughout the three hours we were out there where people maybe not putting that extra hit on somebody, not putting that extra block, not straining a little bit more.”

With that, we must now wonder how the Raiders as a team will respond given that both the coach and one of the franchise’s highest-profile players are in alignment about the team’s work ethic. While it’s true that Adams - like Pierce - did not call any player by name, one has to imagine that behind closed doors there are conversations that are being had. At 1-2 on the season so far, the Raiders aren’t in the worst shape but will need to improve right here and now as they head toward a Week 4 date with the Cleveland Browns. Where Adams is concerned, he will have to do better than the four catches on nine targets that managed for 40 yards in the team’s last game, but it appears that’s something he already knows.