Adams, a three-time All-Pro in his first season with the Rams, has been targeted 55 times. He has 26 catches for 396 yards and three touchdowns.
Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford have connected on several dynamic plays, but their timing remains a work in progress.
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Gary Klein reports from Rams practice at Camden Yards in Baltimore as the team prepares for its London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“It’s not how I drew it up as far as efficiency goes,” Adams said. “I think we both would’ve liked to be a little bit more efficient, but I know for myself over the last few [games], just based off how we started, [there’s been] a little bit of pressing.”
Stafford put the onus on himself.
“There’s been some good ones,” he said. “There’s been some missed ones. I would take the majority of the blame on a lot of those and just give him a better chance on a couple.”
Adams rose to stardom while playing eight seasons with Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers. But that connection also took time, Adams said.
“It definitely didn’t start off the first couple years, let alone the first couple of games the way that we got going,” Adams said. “Not that we have another 10 years to go, but it takes time. It’s not easy.
“Puka and Matthew have been playing together for years now and they have a little better understanding of where one another is going to be, what to expect, and just making it work. It’s been a few where there’s really no excuse for me or him. We just have to put it together.”
Atwell will be back after sitting out last Sunday’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens because of a hamstring injury. Atwell has four catches on nine targets, including one for a long touchdown.
But he said he was not concerned about targets as much as affecting the game in other ways. The speedy threat opens opportunities for Nacua, Adams and others.
“Every opportunity we’ve given him, he’s seized it,” Stafford said. “I don’t see anything different happening. If he gets more opportunities in this game, I have a ton of trust in him.”
Rams star receiver Puka Nacua will not play Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars because of an ankle injury he suffered in last Sunday’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens, coach Sean McVay told reporters Friday in Baltimore.
Nacua, who ranks among NFL leaders in catches and yards receiving, did not practice this week in Baltimore, where the Rams stayed before their scheduled departure to London on Friday.
The Rams (4-2) play the Jaguars (4-2) at Wembley Stadium.
Veteran receiver Davante Adams is expected to become quarterback Matthew Stafford’s primary target. Tutu Atwell, who sat out against the Ravens because of a hamstring injury, will return Sunday. Jordan Whittington also is expected to start.
Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein also was ruled out because of an ankle injury that has sidelined him for several games.
JLR’s Wolverhampton plant, pictured, will be the first to go back online following the attack
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to restart some production this week following a major cyber-attack that forced the carmaker to shut down factories and send workers home.
Manufacturing will resume first at JLR’s engine factory in Wolverhampton, but it is expected to be several weeks before all operations are running at full capacity, with other sites to return gradually.
Work at JLR’s three UK sites in the West Midlands and Merseyside has been suspended since a cyber-attack at the end of August forced the company to shut down.
The resumption of operations will be a welcome relief to JLR’s array of suppliers, some of which are small businesses that have faced huge financial pressure.
JLR is continuing to investigate the attack, which forced the company to shut its IT systems and send workers home.
That safety measure paralysed virtually every aspect of JLR’s business and meant it could not build or sell any cars, or distribute parts to service centres.
As well as its UK sites in Solihull, Halewood and Wolverhampton, the carmaker’s factories in Slovakia, China and India have also been affected by the shutdown.
About 30,000 people are directly employed at the company’s plants with about 200,000 working for firms in the supply chain. Some of these firms supply parts exclusively to JLR, while others sell components to other carmakers as well.
Evtec Group is a so-called “tier one” supplier which provides parts directly to JLR, while sourcing the materials it needs from other companies lower down the supply chain.
It has 1,250 employees mostly based in the West Midlands, but much like JLR’s factories, its main plants in Coventry and Kidderminster have been at a virtual standstill for weeks.
Machines have been shut down, parts set to be shipped out piled high and most staff sent home on 80% of their usual pay.
Evtec
Evtec’s chairman David Roberts said the impact of the shutdown has been severe
Workers will return in the next few years, but Evtec’s chairman David Roberts told the BBC the stoppage has had a dramatic impact on communities in the West Midlands, and uncertainty remains.
“It has had a really detrimental effect, it’s devastating. There’s a lot of vulnerable people out there who are now really concerned – the cost of living, Christmas coming up, when will they return to work in earnest?”
Engineer Ben Brindley said the length of the disruption has fuelled fears about his job.
“There’s only so much refurbishment or decorating you can do whilst you’re at home,” he said.
“The longer it goes on for, the more worried you get really. You start to think – will I have a job to come back to?”
Experts have warned while production will gradually resume, the impact of the cyber-attack on JLR is not over.
The company said its recovery programme was “firmly under way” and that its global parts logistics centre, which supplies spare parts to dealerships for vehicle servicing, was “returning to full operations”.
But when it comes to restarting carmaking, experts point out the process is not like flicking a switch. Some industrial processes can take days to get back up and running, while JLR has already said the restart will be done in phases.
Secondly, suppliers that have lost income during the shutdown may not be able to bounce back as quickly.
‘Toothless support’
Andy Palmer, who has held senior roles at Nissan and was the former boss of Aston Martin, said the restart process would “take a while”, and added the supply chain was “broken and needs to be repaired”.
“The other issue is the impact on suppliers. Some of them… might not make it, and if any of those fail then that’s more disruption in the supply chain,” he said.
While the government has agreed to back loans for JLR to support suppliers, Evtec’s Mr Roberts said the policy was a “toothless solution”.
“It doesn’t help the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector one iota, because we don’t see any of those funds,” he said.
“We asked the government directly, at ministerial level, to directly support the sector. They listened, but they did nothing. It’s almost like they’ve turned a deaf ear to the needs of advanced manufacturing, which is a key platform of the Industrial Strategy”.
He said the government needed to support labour and payroll costs and provide tax reliefs for a period of time while firms recover.
“Production will begin, but it’s too late. All of our companies have had six weeks of zero sales and still had to pay their costs,” Mr Roberts said.
The government has said it is in “daily contact with JLR and cyber experts to listen to concerns and what support can be provided to get production back online.”
Staff at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will be out of work for at least another week as the business secretary prepares to meet suppliers of the car maker who are at risk of closure.
JLR has confirmed that production in its factories – including its UK facilities in Solihull, Halewood and Wolverhampton – will remain suspended until at least October 1.
It previously said production would resume on September 24.
The company’s production lines ground to a halt in late August following a major cyber attack, and fears are growing that the company’s suppliers could go bust without support.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle will visit JLR for the first time since the attackto meet with the company and firms in the supply chain for the beleaguered carmaker.
“Our focus remains on supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and our retailers who remain open,” the statement said.
“We fully recognise this is a difficult time for all connected with JLR and we thank everyone for their continued support and patience.”
Industry minister Chris McDonald said he was visiting JLR alongside the business secretary to “host companies in the supply chain, to listen to workers and hear how we can support them and help get production back online.”
He said in a statement: “We have two priorities, helping Jaguar Land Rover get back up and running as soon as possible and the long-term health of the supply chain.
“We are acutely aware of the difficulties the stoppage is causing for those suppliers and their staff, many of whom are already taking a financial hit through no fault of their own – and we will do everything we can to reassure them that the government is on their side.”
Suppliers are anxious to be heard, according to Johnathan Dudley, the head of manufacturing for accounting and consulting firm Crowe UK. The firm is based in the West Midlands, which is where the Solihull and Wolverhampton plants are.
“Obviously, they’re being very, very cautious because they don’t want to create panic, and equally, they don’t want to be seen to be criticising people further up the chain,” he said.
“It’s not a blame game, but it is a cry for help, because there are businesses now seeing people not paying [staff].”
The halt in production had hit profits by about £120m already, and £1.7bn in lost revenue, according to David Bailey, Professor of Business Economics at the University of Birmingham.
JLR is currently taking the lead on support for its own supply chain, rather than any state intervention.
