GREEN BAY, Wis. — Football, for Davante Adams, really began in the fifth grade when he broke his arm for the first of three times — a story he has shared before.
Undeterred, of course, he came back for more.
His NFL career, although it formally began when the Green Bay Packers picked him in the second round of the 2014 draft, really began in his 12th game. In the first — and to date, only — meeting between Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, it was the rookie receiver who stole the show. He caught six passes (two more than in his previous three games combined) for 121 yards, the most by a Packers rookie receiver since Sterling Sharpe in 1988.
It wasn’t until two seasons later that Adams really arrived, but the New England Patriots saw all they needed to see on that day. When they face him again on Sunday night, there will be no surprises.
“We certainly got a good look at him,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said this week. “He killed us, along with [Randall] Cobb.”
Entering Game No. 2 against the Patriots nearly four years later, Adams is working off a streak of three straight 100-yard games — actually three straight with at least 130 yards, becoming just the second Packers receiver in history top the 130-yard mark in three consecutive games. (James Lofton, 1984, is the other, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.) If he hits the 100-yard mark against the Patriots, he will tie Lofton and Don Hutson for the most consecutive 100-yard receiving games in team history.
Only Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown has more touchdown catches (29) than Adams (28) since the start of the 2016 season. Adams ranks 10th in the NFL in receptions (52) and seventh in yards (690) this season and already had a bye week.
“He’s good at everything,” Belichick said. “He’s a very good receiver. He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s strong, got strong hands, can go up and take the ball away from defenders and he’s extremely productive after the catch. He’s got good running skill, he’s a hard guy to tackle. He’s quick and elusive, but he’s a hard guy to get on the ground. He can break tackles and run through contact, so everything’s a problem.
“The deep balls are a problem. The catch-and-run plays are a problem. The intermediate third-down possession routes are a problem. He’s one of the top receivers in the league. He’s hard to cover, he’s a hard guy to tackle and he’s got a great quarterback throwing him the ball in a great offensive system. So all the stars are in alignment.”
The Patriots found that out because they tried to take away Cobb and Jordy Nelson, as their wont is to make the third option try to beat them. Belichick started that 2014 game with Brandon Browner covering Nelson, Darrelle Revis on Cobb and Kyle Arrington on Adams. After Adams caught passes for 33 and 45 yards in the first quarter, Browner moved to Adams and Revis to Nelson, who then beat the All-Pro for a 45-yard catch-and-run touchdown before halftime.
“That’s what Bill and his staff will do: they’re going to try to take away what you do best — your 1 and 2 options — and if you start getting something else going, they’re going to adjust quickly to it,” Rodgers said this week. “So you’ve got to have a second and third game plan when you play the New England Patriots.”
That’s where someone like Marquez Valdes-Scantling could become the Adams of the 2018 Patriots game, although the rookie fifth-round pick already has accomplished more than Adams did before his first meeting with New England. Valdes-Scantling’s eye-popping catch average (18.2 yards) combined with his first 100-yard game (three catches for 103 against the 49ers) and the 40-yard touchdown pass he caught last Sunday against the Rams won’t go unnoticed. Plus, with receiver Geronimo Allison added to the injury report because of a groin injury in practice on Thursday, Valdes-Scantling is sure to get plenty of snaps.
“They put their attention on the best [receiver] on the field,” Valdes-Scantling said.
Four years ago, no one would have said that about Adams.
Now, that’s exactly how the Patriots will treat him.
“When you put it that way, it’s kind of cool how it goes full circle,” Adams said. “You go from having production because you were the No. 3 and nobody is kind of paying attention to you so I can squeeze through the cracks, to now I’m sure they’ll be game-planning for some of the things I’ve done. So it’ll be interesting to see if I can go out there and still have a game like I did because that’s obviously what I intend on doing.”