HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — An NFL head coach eventually realizes if a rookie has the ‘it’ factor.
Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce knows the moment he saw it in tight end Brock Bowers.
“The day he walked in the door,” Pierce said Wednesday. “We knew we were getting a blue chipper. I mean, he did it day one at Georgia when he walked on campus. And he did it each and every game, each and every year.
“And he got here in rookie minicamp, and he got pads on at training camp … then we slowed him down a little bit because he was pushing himself. And to be honest, I mean we knew what we got, just didn’t want to speak on it until he did it.”
Through the first two games of the season, he’s done it.
And it seems everyone except the shy 21-year-old from Napa, California is comfortable speaking on it.
“I could tell when he first showed up,” said wide receiver Davante Adams, who was part of a panel of veterans who spoke to the rookies when they first arrived in Las Vegas. “And I could just tell by the way he spoke and the way he was locked in, he didn’t really seem like he cared about anything other than football.
“You got those type of dudes that’s young, and they come in like that and just lock in and grow and learn from all the veteran players you can see something special in them.”
Asked how he was able to break the ice with someone whose character is stoic and reserved, Adams said he still isn’t sure his young teammate has thawed out.
“We still skating,” Adams said. “I don’t know if it’s ever been fully broken.”
On the field, though, Bowers is scorching.
Bowers, who had nine catches for 98 yards in Sunday’s 26-23 come-from-behind win in Baltimore, is the first tight end in NFL history with at least five receptions and 50 receiving yards in each of his first two games.
Bowers’ 15 receptions and 156 yards the two games are the most for a rookie tight end since the merger. He also ranks second in the league in highest catch percentage (88.2%) on targets in the NFL this season, with a minimum of 15 targets, behind Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin (93.8%).
“I just kind of come and do my job, and I just feel like I go about my business,” a coy Bowers said in front of his locker, looking a bit shellshocked surrounded by reporters. “Whenever I’m in the building, I just kind of just focus on football and yeah, just getting after it.”
Bowers said his time at Georgia helped ease his transition from college to pro, and it’s been a championship mentality and attention to detail that Pierce has been appreciative of during his first official season as head coach.
“He’s tough, he loves the game,” Pierce said. “He doesn’t care how he looks, how he talks — he just wants to play ball. And that fits our mentality.”
Bowers has a chance to continue his impressive start Sunday when the Raiders host Carolina in their home opener. The Panthers have allowed a league-tying sixth-highest receptions (11) and eighth-most yards (104) to tight ends this season.
“That dude’s like, been making plays from day one,” Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew said. “To get him in game situations, to have the trust in him has really been easy. He’s earned it the whole time, and it’s really cool to have a guy like that on your team.”
INJURY REPORT: Defensive end Maxx Crosby (ankle), linebacker Tommy Eichenberg (knee), tackle Kolton Miller (shoulder), defensive end Tyree Wilson (knee), defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (knee) and safety Chris Smith (knee) were all limited in practice on Wednesday. Linebacker Divine Deablo (oblique/concussion) and cornerback Decamerion Richardson (hamstring) did not participate.
MORE MAXX: Crosby earned his fifth-career AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors with six tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and a pass defensed in Las Vegas’ 26-23 victory at Baltimore. His four tackles for loss are the most in a single game among AFC players this season.
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The dateline of this story has been corrected to Henderson, Nev. instead of Las Vegas.
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