Barber: Raiders’ Derek Carr finds his groove in 24-21 win vs. Steelers

OAKLAND - Ben Roethlisberger made a dramatic comeback on Sunday, missing most of the second half with a rib injury before returning late in fourth quarter and very nearly engineering a win for the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers. His counterpart, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, is making a comeback of his own. It isn't as cinematic, or as sudden as Big Ben's. But it's a big development for this struggling team.

“You know me,” Carr said after the Raiders' 24-21 win over the playoff-aspiring Steelers. “I know what I'm capable of, I know how to play this game.”

Hmm, I think he's right. Close your eyes, rack your memory and you probably can remember what Carr is capable of. We just hadn't seen it much in the past year and a half.

Can it be that 2016 Derek Carr has returned to action? I don't know if it was the broken leg that hid him away, or the broken back, or the broken roster or his broken confidence. But the man had disappeared for a while.

Carr got off to a terrible start in 2018. And even as he began to find his legs at midseason, the Raiders kept losing. His relationship with coach Jon Gruden appeared tenuous. Over the past four games, though, Carr has thrown eight touchdowns without an interception, compiling a rating of 101.0. Not coincidentally, Oakland has won two of the four.

Except for the unforced flub that turned into a lost fumble just after halftime, Carr sparkled on Sunday. There was the perfect lob to the right sideline and into tight end Jared Cook's arms, over the trailing linebacker and under the safety, on the second play of the game; the 23-yard dart to tight end Mark Carrier late in the third quarter, threaded between two defenders; the crisp strikes on slants to Jordy Nelson; the 28-yard lob down the right sideline to rookie Marcel Ateman early in the fourth quarter, with the Raiders trailing 14-10.

Or this one: the first play after the final 2-minute warning. Oakland was down 21-17, and had just crept into Pittsburgh territory. Carr lined up in shotgun formation. Gruden's play call was designed for Cook, the prolific tight end. Seth Roberts was supposed to run a crossing route, but Carr gave the wide receiver a heads-up.

“We were in the huddle,” Carr said. “I told him, ‘Seth, if we get two-high (safety coverage), I know what you have but just take the middle.'?”

The Steelers lined up in a two-high zone. Roberts adjusted and ran vertically along the hashmarks, and Carr threw one of the best passes of his career. Roberts had only a half-step on one safety, Morgan Burnett. Another, Terrell Edmunds, was closing fast. Carr dropped the ball right on Roberts' jersey numbers, and the Raiders were in business at the Steelers' 7-yard line. They scored the winning touchdown four plays later.

As Gruden divulged after the game, Carr had taken that same play, drawn up for Cook, and turned it into a long completion to Roberts in a Raiders practice during the week.

“I thought to myself, ‘I can't believe he threw that,'?” Gruden said. “That play is not designed for (Roberts). He is an alert. But Derek sees the field, and I have been saying that from the beginning. If we can protect him and give him some good looks, he will make the throws.”

Roberts confirmed the practice encounter. He said it happened Friday.

“We had the same coverage and it was kind of the same result. I just thought about that, and that's pretty funny,” Roberts said in the post-game locker room.

Carr's contribution? “Oh yeah, a gorgeous pass,” Roberts said. “Look at the outcome.”

Lately, Carr's outcomes have been easy on the eyes. It wasn't always so. He had some moments in the first half of this season, but never stayed in stride for any extended period. Sometimes Carr took unnecessary risks. More often, he looked tentative. It was as if he didn't know what Gruden wanted from him, and didn't fully trust his offensive teammates.

Carr opened up on those subjects after the Steelers game.

“It takes time to build chemistry with new guys,” he said. “Obviously, I knew I had to play better. It doesn't matter who's in there, how many times I've thrown them the ball. You get a guy like (Brandon) ‘Joe' LaFell who just shows up one day and you're like, he's our starter. And now I have to get this chemistry. Then he gets hurt and it's Marcell (Ateman), Keon (Hatcher), and then Johnny (Holton)'s back - it's been tough.”

The biggest transition of all has been Gruden himself. Carr was an emerging starter under Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano and Jack Del Rio, and they coddled him a bit. Gruden arrived with far more fanfare and power, and he's a truth-teller. He hasn't ripped Carr, but he hasn't excluded the quarterback from responsibility, either.

It must have been disconcerting. Carr, Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper were once linked as the three bright stars of the Raiders' future. Gruden traded Mack and Cooper. Why should Carr think he was safe? Especially when he wasn't playing all that well?

“I'm trying so hard to do it the right way,” Carr said, explaining his mindset in the first quarter of the season. “I'm trying to get to the right check, and I was making mistakes early on. Mistakes and the fact that I'm trying to force something. We've talked about that, too. I'm trying to make too much happen. Instead of throwing the check-down, you're trying to force that because I'm trying to push the ball down the field.”

Carr didn't relax until Gruden, in a meeting at team headquarters, told the quarterback that if he did what the boss asked of him, Gruden could live with the consequences.

“Coach grabbed me and said, ‘I don't care about stats and things like that. I just want to see you efficiently do exactly what I tell you,'?” Carr recalled.

He admitted it took a weight off his shoulders. “It was freeing for me,” Carr said. “I'm a pleaser. I'm trying to please him, Coach (Greg) Olson (the offensive coordinator), Coach Cally (quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan) - I'm trying to do exactly what they want.”

When you're thinking too much about pleasing everybody, you will please no one. That's where Carr was in Week 4. Now, even with a skeleton crew at wide receiver, he's letting it rip, making big plays and inspiring confidence. It's fun to see 2016 Derek Carr again - fun for the fans, and a relief for his teammates.

As Roberts said, look at the outcome.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.