Talk about a tale of two halves. Davante Adams had zero catches on two targets in the first 30 minutes of the New York Jets’ 32-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He came out of the halftime locker room looking for violence. Adams responded with nine catches for 198 yards and two TDs on 10 targets in the second half to key the Jets’ comeback.
On Tuesday, Adams graced Kay Adams’ Up & Adams morning show with his presence, and his polar-opposite performances in the first and second halves of that game were bound to come up. When it did, the star wide receiver started by taking a shot at himself, saying with a chuckle that he needed to “get my head out of my ass” after Kay asked him, “What the heck” happened in the final half.
“I don’t know, I guess I had to get my head out of my ass first. And that helps when you do that. And then, I had a drop earlier in the first half, right before the half, and I got my hair pulled on the route, so when I pulled my head back, I couldn’t really find the ball,” Adams said.
“And then, I think that was my second target or whatever, and then once we got back in there and got a few grabs, stuff like this just starts to happen. Just need a few plays to kinda unlock it and get in that flow,” he continued.
The Jets were down 13-7 before halftime, and Adams’ resurgence served as the catalyst for their comeback. Aaron Rodgers found him on the very first play of the second half for 12 yards. He then found Adams for a 43-yard bomb on the second drive before targeting Adams twice inside the five-yard line later in the drive, the second of which resulted in a one-yard touchdown catch by the wide receiver.
With under four minutes remaining and the Jets down five, Rodgers found Adams for another deep shot, this time, a 71-yard trip to pay dirt. Adams completed the elusive octopus by catching the ensuing two-point convert to give N.Y. a three-point lead.
Somehow, he wasn’t done there. After the Jags tied it up at 25, Adams caught a 23-yard pass to put the Jets in Jacksonville territory. Then, he snagged a 41-yarder to set up Breece Hall’s game-winning TD. While Adams was playing out of his mind, the whole team seemed to rally in the second half, and the veteran wideout says it had a lot to do with a speech from Rodgers.
“Aaron spoke to the offense before we started in warmups. He said, ‘Look man, we’re 3-10, and this freaking sucks, and it is what it is. Either we can go out like weenies, or we can pull it together and figure it out and find a way to make something out of the remainder of this year.’”
The wideout also spoke about how he appreciated that the Jets’ mindset is still to go and win every game. There are no thoughts about tanking in the New York locker room, despite their 4-10 record. The best the Jets can hope, for now, is a 7-10 year. But with a tough final slate (vs. LAR, @ BUF, vs. MIA), even that might be wishful thinking.
Davante Adams has now contributed 49 receptions for 651 yards and five TDs in the eight games he’s played in the Big Apple. That means his performance against the Jags represented about 18 percent of his total Jets receptions, over 30 percent of his total receiving yards for the team, and 40 percent of his touchdowns.
2024-12-17 20:05:13