What happened to Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders? This was a team that almost defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in primetime last Sunday, appearing to solidify themselves as a legitimate playoff contenders. The Raiders had the opportunity to get an easy win against the lowly Atlanta Falcons. And boy, did Jon Gruden’s squad ever falter in a favorable situation.
Carr faced off against a Falcons pass defense that struggled to stop the quarterback all season long, as they surrendered 22 passing touchdowns this season while allowing an average of 300.3 yards per game (both the second-most in NFL). Instead of taking advantage of Atlanta’s defensive woes, Carr struggled to do anything, even with Darren Waller, Henry Ruggs and Nelson Agholor at his disposal.
The veteran quarterback completed 22-of-34 of his pass attempts for 215 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception, which came in the form of a pick-six to Falcons linebacker Deion Jones in the third quarter. To further add to his misery, Carr fumbled the ball three times. In fact, Carr’s four giveaways are the most he’s ever recorded in a game. The Raiders couldn’t put up a single touchdown on the board, as they lost 43-6 to the Falcons and made the last place NFC South squad look like playoff contenders.
A week ago, the talk was that Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock had their quarterback situation figured out after Carr’s brilliant performance against the defending Super Bowl champions. Once again, we’re back to square one with Carr. Congratulations, Derek, now Raiders fans are back to discussing which quarterback they should select with their 2021 first-round pick.