Davante Adams: 'I feel like I'm still not there'

-- Could history be halted at the worst time?

For Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, who is battling a knee injury, it sure seems as if that's a possibility.

Adams suffered a knee injury early in the Packers' overtime victory against the New York Jets last weekend, claiming it occurred on his second catch of the day.

If that's true, it makes Adams' 11-catch, 71-yard performance seem all the more impressive. Nine of his 11 catches, 56 of his yards and a touchdown all came after suffering the injury. He caught the pass that gave the Packers their first road victory of the season, and their first since Adams had a walk-off touchdown in overtime against the Cleveland Browns more than a year ago.

Adams didn't participate in Wednesday's practice and was one of four receivers listed on the injury report. Randall Cobb and Equanimeous St. Brown are both in the concussion protocol whereas Jake Kumerow is battling a hand injury. Kumerow was a full participant, so there shouldn't be too much worry with him.

"I see myself being out there," Adams said on Wednesday. "I’m always going to be optimistic. I’m a little sore right now, but we’ll play it throughout the week and see how it feels."

Adams has played in all 15 games this season and is knocking on the door of multiple franchise single-season receiving records.

With 111 catches on the year, Adams just needs two more to eclipse the 112 mark set by Sterling Sharpe in 1993. As of right now, Adams sits sixth in receiving yards but could find his way quickly moving up the list against the Detroit Lions. He needs 134 yards to break the record of 1,519 set by Jordy Nelson in 2014.

"The best thing about things like this is that they come when you don’t really expect it -- not that I didn’t expect to put up numbers, I didn’t go into it saying I want to beat Jordy’record. I went into it trying to beat my stuff from previous years, keep getting better, be better than I was the first time we played the Lions. That's my mentality.

"The good thing about the football gods is they reward you when you have your head on straight and you’re worried about the right things."

As far as the 2018 campaign goes, Adams is second amongst wide receivers in catches, fifth in receiving yards and second in receiving touchdowns (13). But of every player ahead of him or around him in those categories, Adams is the only one suiting up this weekend with the playoffs completely out of sight and essentially nothing further to play for than pride, leadership and culture.

Adams has seen his fair share of No. 1 cornerback match-ups throughout the season -- potentially even more than any other of the league's top receivers given the severity of the Packers' schedule. But the current positioning record-wise after a full season of (mostly) healthy Aaron Rodgers continues to be underwhelming given the expectations entering the year.

"I would much rather trade in whatever it is to be in a better position and competing for a championship right now," Adams said. "But it’s definitely an awesome thing when you can reflect where I’ve been and where I’m headed. I don’t even like to talk about where I am now because I feel like I’m still not there."

__________________________

Zachary Jacobson is a staff writer/reporter for Cheesehead TV. He's the voice of The Leap on iTunes and can be heard on The Scoop KLGR 1490 AM every Saturday morning. He's also a contributor on the Pack-A-Day Podcast. He can be found on Twitter via @ZachAJacobson or contacted through email at [email protected].

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Comments (14)

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Bearmeat's picture

December 27, 2018 at 05:39 am

Unless he's really hurt, he will play until he catches three balls. I doubt he eclipses the yardage record.

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NickPerry's picture

December 27, 2018 at 05:42 am

I for one am happy as hell Adams is having the season that he is. He took a LOT of BS from P{ackers fans his 2nd season here when he battled injuries the entire season and had some drops. Names like "Dropvate" continued even through last year when it just wasn't deserved.

The season he's had this year speaks volumes about the person and the receiver Adams has turned into. The dude WORKS his ass off in the off-season, lines up against the defenses best CB each and every week, and turns in a record breaking season yet some fans still hang onto his 2nd season.

Time to give the man his due.

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Savage57's picture

December 27, 2018 at 05:57 am

The bagging on Adams his second season, when both he and Cobb were being counted on the shore up the WR corps in Jordy's absence and pretty much fouled the sheets, was more than deserved.

I appreciate he had a nagging ankle injury, but, man, those hands. I thought he'd contracted something from Finley.

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Spock's picture

December 27, 2018 at 07:15 am

Davante's game is his incredibly fast feet (shuffle if you will) and the high ankle injury robbed him of that in his second season. That, in turn, robbed him of confidence and he started "trying too hard" and dropping catches which snowballed for him in year two. I'm not a fan of name calling and never used that nickname for him. There were STILL some as late as this season's start claiming he's not a number one. I'm glad for the hard working young man that he's has a great year individually.

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fthisJack's picture

December 27, 2018 at 10:50 am

I agree Nick. and any criticism wasn't warranted. he was dealing with an injury and only in his second year. guys develop at their own pace and to pile on him was uncalled for. some guys develop quickly, some more slowly and some never at all. to axe a guy with potential after his second year would be insane.

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croatpackfan's picture

December 27, 2018 at 01:24 pm

This post is perferct, Nick. Exactly what was happening and how many reacted on Davante... I iiked him from the first moment and tried to defend him in his 2nd year. I'm so glad he show what stud he is...

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TKWorldWide's picture

December 27, 2018 at 06:40 am

Davante: “I don’t even like to talk about where I am now”: modesty.

TK: “I don’t even like to talk about where I am now”: witness protection.

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Bert's picture

December 27, 2018 at 09:08 am

Lol!!!! Good one TK.

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stockholder's picture

December 27, 2018 at 10:36 am

Confidence in Me. Adams can catch the ball now. Hard work does pay off. His explosiveness is what has shown up. Adams can talk or say anything he wants now. He's developed into the #1 Wr for the packers. His chemistry and route running are so important to the success of the packers. We all know there is something any player can improve on. He Has, and will! Adams was given more chances more than any WR I've seen in the National Football league. He deserved any judgement. I'm glad I was wrong. I Hope he continues to succeed and retires a Packer.

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fthisJack's picture

December 27, 2018 at 10:57 am

he didn't deserve any criticism. the sideline swami's know nothing. just hot bags of air venting their frustration.

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stockholder's picture

December 27, 2018 at 11:26 am

Drop Vante??????? James Jones was signed. I think that signing not only was good for Rodgers, but may have helped Adams more than we will ever know.

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KnockTheSnotOutOfYou's picture

December 27, 2018 at 03:27 pm

Derty,
Early on in Favre's career he threw and threw to Sharpe. There are many pundits who believe Favre didnt grow as a QB until Sharpe was injured forcing him to spread the love. I believe Rodgers has hindered development of young WR's and Tonyan in reverse with focus on Adam's and Graham. It also hurt this years success on offense because of it. However, at this point it no longer matters as next year those young guys have matured and Rodgers wil have no choice to throw to the younger players along with Adams.

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Lare's picture

December 27, 2018 at 05:00 pm

I don't think it's as much the fault of the young receivers as it is the current offensive scheme. It is notoriously difficult to learn and be productive in as a young receiver as it is a read & react scheme where the receivers have multiple routes to run based on what the defense is doing.

Glad to see this scheme go away, hoping that Philbin doesn't get hired and keep it going in Green Bay.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 28, 2018 at 02:22 pm

I agree. While not wishing injury on anyone, I was happy that Cobb was out last week since that opened a lot of snaps for ESB, MVS and Kumerow, and probably made 7 to 10 targets available as well.

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