Las Vegas Raiders: Derek Carr not to blame for disappointing season
The Las Vegas Raiders have collapsed, but it’s not Derek Carr’s fault.
Rewind to the Las Vegas Raiders‘ Week 11 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders were 6-3 on the 2020 NFL season prior to that game and looking to make some noise in not just the playoff picture but the AFC West picture as well.
After the Raiders lost that game, they still received a lot of praise for giving the reigning champs all they could handle. Since then, however, it’s been all downhill for the silver and black, as they’ve lost five of their last six games and honestly should have lost that sixth game to the Jets.
Despite how badly the Raiders have crumbled over the last month and a half, the blame cannot be placed on quarterback Derek Carr, who is actually having a really good season. To this point of the season, Carr has thrown for 3,732 yards, 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Pretty good numbers.
Derek Carr shouldn’t be blamed for the Las Vegas Raiders’ mishaps.
The Raiders’ biggest issue this season has been their lack of defense. Even after firing defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, the team is still struggling and it was clear on Saturday that Jon Gruden didn’t trust them to protect the lead, as Josh Jacobs was instructed to sit down at the one-yard line and not score.
Carr isn’t playing defense so he shouldn’t be blamed for how poorly that side of the ball has played. Carr also does what’s asked of him when his defense does slip up and he displayed that once again on Saturday night. He led the Raiders down the field on two separate occasions, but when push came to shove, his defense let him and the rest of the team down once again.
This is Carr’s seventh season with the Raiders and he’s yet to start a playoff game for them, as he was injured when the team made the postseason in 2016. There have been several years where Carr hasn’t played well, but this year isn’t one of them. The Raiders wouldn’t even have seven wins if it weren’t for Carr.
Next. NFL Power Rankings, Week 17: Cowboys inch closer to playoffs. dark
It’ll be an interesting offseason for the Las Vegas Raiders but they should at least feel confident rolling with Derek Carr for the foreseeable future.