Raiders' Derek Carr will get biggest test against Broncos
ALAMEDA - The presumptive NFL most valuable player bounced to the podium set up outside the Raiders' weight room on Wednesday, all smiles and youthful exuberance.
“I still think of myself as a little kid, just a fan of the game,” he said in response to one question. “It's still kind of surreal and I don't think it will be real to me until I'm done playing. … You can't believe it. It's like a video game. Your name's up there but is it really yours?”
Yes, Derek Carr, that is really your name echoing through conversations about this year's MVP award. The season is only half-done, and old hands like Tom Brady and Matt Ryan will have something to say about the competition. But at least two former NFL quarterbacks (both of them also former Raiders), while debating the topic on CBS Sports Network's “NFL Morning QB” earlier this week, said the midpoint MVP is stationed in Oakland.
“He is,” Rich Gannon said. “They are a perfect 5-0 on the road. They are in first place in the AFC West. And they're doing it without a running game or a defense. This team would be lost without Derek Carr.”
Steve Beuerlein voted for No. 4 as well.
“He is the reason his team is 6-2,” Beuerlein said. “They are playing very well. He has made the clutch throws down the stretch. Every single one of the games they have needed him to step up, he has stepped up. I would have a hard time rating anyone ahead of him.”
The third member (and ex-quarterback) of the panel, Trent Green, went with Ryan, though he acknowledged Carr “is in the conversation.”
MVP or not, Carr seems to be in all the conversations these days. He ranks fifth in the NFL in passing yardage (2,321) and passer rating (100.9), and is tied for third in touchdown passes (17). Pro Football Focus, which generates metrics based on film study, currently rates Carr fourth among regular NFL starting quarterbacks; PFF says he's eighth in deep passing and fourth while throwing under pressure.
And the Raiders are tied with the Denver Broncos atop the AFC West at 6-2, adding another layer of meaning to their clash at the Oakland Coliseum Sunday night.
General manager Reggie McKenzie has made some admirable draft picks over the past few years, including defensive end Khalil Mack and wide receiver Amari Cooper, both of them first-rounders. But it was Carr, the second-round choice in 2014, who has come to define the Raiders' resurgence.
“It's funny, when he came into the league, in the AFC West you had Peyton Manning (in Denver), Philip Rivers (in San Diego) and Alex Smith (in Kansas City). Derek Carr was the fourth guy,” said James Lofton, the Hall of Fame wide receiver who will call Sunday's game for Westwood One Radio. “Now arguably he's head and shoulders the best guy in the division. People talk about Philip Rivers, but where are the wins? With Carr, the wins are there, the passing numbers are there, the ability to scramble out of the pocket is there.”
Asked to describe the ball Carr throws, third-string rookie quarterback Connor Cook had a one-word answer: “Perfect.”
“He can throw with touch, he can laser it in there. Throws a perfect spiral every time,” Cook said. “His accuracy is something else.”
Lofton also credits Carr's pocket awareness, comparing his footwork to a good dancer's.
“You watch Derek Carr and you compare him to other young QBs - like in his last two games, against (Jacksonville's) Blake Bortles and (Tampa Bay's) Jameis Winston, you came away from both games saying he should have been a first-round pick,” Lofton said.
Carr put up good numbers last year, too, passing for 3,987 yards and 32 touchdowns as the team improved to 7-9. The biggest knock against him was his 13 interceptions, several of them at disastrous moments late in close games. And that has been the biggest measure of Carr's improvement this season. He has offered up just three interceptions in eight games.
“The thing with Derek, I think he's throwing it more than anybody in football and he's turned it over less than anybody in football,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said on a conference call this week. “That tells you the growth of him. That's what this league is about. Can you be aggressive? Can you go out there and throw it around? Can you keep us in games and not turn the ball over? That's what he's doing.”
Like most quarterbacks, though, Carr's relationship with his teammates is as important as anything he does on the field. Lofton has visited Raiders training camp in Napa each of the past two years. The first time, in 2015, he was impressed to watch the Raiders' young starting quarterback, then just 24.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: