Oakland Raiders: 3 Bold predictions vs. Chargers, Week 16
By Steve Rivera
3. Carr plays his final game as a Raider
It’s been fun, just not a lot of fun for Derek Carr. After an up and down two seasons as Jon Gruden’s guy under center, look for either a big performance to help save a job or the kind of uneven performance that has him on the outs with his head coach.
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First, this isn’t unexpected. Heading into last year’s draft, a lot of talk was centered on Gruden taking a quarterback. He didn’t, and so here we are.
Against the Chargers, Carr knows he’s on borrowed time and he plays like it. Gruden is in his head and it shows. Carr wasn’t terrible against Jacksonville, just ineffective, especially in the second half of their game. That said, don’t let the numbers fool you. 22 of 36 for 267 yards and one touchdown won’t win him a lot of facetime with his head coach.
Against the Chargers, the Raiders will struggle as they have the last four games and the last four losses. Expect turnovers via the interception and one fumble against what will be a good Chargers defense.
The performance will be memorable in that it ushers in a new era of quarterback play as soon as the Raiders get to Las Vegas.