All of the conjecture surrounding Davante Adams dominates the Las Vegas Raiders headlines. Still, the games don’t stop with Week 5 upon us—offensive coordinator Luke Getsy spoke on the state of the offense in the midst of all the drama.
Say what you will, but the Raiders offense looked the best it has against the Cleveland Browns last weekend. It goes without saying that the playcalling was still a source of contention for Raider Nation—more so in the second half of that contest. Still, without Adams available, Gardner Minshew was able to spread the ball around; Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker hauled in 10 passes combined for 90 yards.
The state of the Raiders offense under Luke Getsy
More importantly, the run game had its best game of the season thus far. The question remains whether this performance was fleeting. With Adams apparently on his way out, last Sunday’s performance might’ve been a preview of what we will see moving forward. Getsy addressed the question about Adams while speaking to the media this week.
“Yeah, every week you go into a game plan, and you evaluate who you have first, and then you evaluate your opponent, right? And then you do your best to try to find areas that you want to attack or areas you got to stay away from. So, whether that’s Davante [Adams] or whether that’s anybody else on our team, that’s part of the process of doing what we do on a week-to-week basis, because as you guys have seen across the league, guys are out, and you got to deal with it. And it’s next man up, and our guys have done a great job and will continue to do all that stuff.”
The show must go on for the Raiders
Surely, we’re all familiar with the frustration that Raiders fans have experienced with Getsy. Nonetheless, despite all the nonsense surrounding Adams, the offense itself has largely “kept the show going.” In fact, in all of the coverage this week, the biggest factor being overlooked is that the Raiders are 2-2. You’d think with all of the hoopla, the team would be winless.
Let’s maybe not judge Getsy too harshly this soon. Besides Meyers, both Tucker and DJ Turner have benefitted from Adams’ absence, and by all accounts, Getsy spoke highly about their roles moving forward.
“Yeah, it starts with their play style, right? They’re relentless guys. They’re team-first guys, they play violent, they play fast and then they’re high football IQ guys too. So, they allow us to move them around different positions and do a lot of different things with them. Two very valuable guys for us and what we do.”
As the Raiders prepare to take on their AFC West rival, the Denver Broncos, this Sunday, we’re likely to see a similar plan of action. Get the ball to those speedsters; let them make plays while getting rookie sensation Brock Bowers involved early and often.
