For nearly the entire preseason, the Oakland Raiders coaching staff was adamant Matt Schaub would be their starting quarterback come Week 1.
More from Las Vegas Raiders
- Raiders: Saquon Barkley’s new contract may have screwed over Josh Jacobs
- Raiders sign coveted All-Pro ahead of training camp
- Raiders RB Josh Jacobs leaves Vegas in dramatic fashion amid contract dispute
- NFL Rumors: Insider predicts great news for Raiders on free agency front
- Austin Ekeler leading RB revolt with Zoom meeting of biggest names
Alas, that wasn’t to be the case as Schaub was his woeful self while rookie Derek Carr sliced and diced opposing defenses. No, Carr wasn’t playing against the oppositions starting unit very often, but he did so on Sunday afternoon against the New York Jets and things couldn’t have started better for the former Fresno State product.
Carr started his first NFL drive in perfect fashion, going 5 of 5 and ended things by throwing his first career NFL touchdown pass to wide receiver Rod Streater.
No, it wasn’t a missile pass thrown through the heart of the defense nor was it a long bomb down the field, but the points count the same.
The New York Jets were said to likely throw an aggressive game plan at Derek Carr, though, planned to leave their secondary in man-to-man coverage as they believed they’d be able to handle Carr in his NFL debut. So far that hasn’t proven to be the case as the rookie has looked anything but through his first quarter as a professional quarterback.
Carr and his Oakland Raiders were able to secure a 7-3 lead thanks to the touchdown pass. Even more impressive was that Carr was able to convert on a much needed third down situation, looking extremely comfortable in the process.
It looks like this will be just one of many touchdown’s thrown by Carr during his career.