Everything Derek Carr said After the Raiders Beat the Broncos
HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders returned to winning on Sunday by downing their AFC West rival the Denver Broncos.
Derek Carr had an exceptional game, and we have everything he said about the contest from after the game.
You can watch the entire video below, and read the transcript:
Raiders QB Derek Carr
Q: Can you talk about your ability to run and keep drives alive today?
Carr: "It was something that we used to emphasize. [Jon] Gru [Gruden] would always tell me to run for two a game. Just challenging me, two first downs a game is what he would say. Now, with the way that we're playing, if they want to double everybody, I take it upon my shoulders and find a lane and go, just to make it hard for people. It's definitely something I'm conscious about. It's definitely something I'm trying to do and get as many yards as I can to put that pressure on the defenses because I think ultimately, it'll help Davante [Adams]. I think it'll help Darren [Waller]. It’ll help Hunter [Renfrow] when he's back. It will help our skill guys to get some normal coverages, but until then, if people want to keep doing it, then I have to be able to try and do that the best that I can."
Q: What did you see out of Josh Jacobs running today? Was there something different today?
Carr: “If I'm honest, I've seen it this year. At the end of last year, and this year, I kept telling him, I said, ‘Keep doing that, bro. That's special.' And he did it last year, and he was doing it this year. The games, some of them, just the way that the flow had been, we just couldn't keep doing that in certain areas. But I'm just so proud of him because he works extremely hard and has a great smile on his face every day. I think it was a career-high for him also, which is huge. If teams want to play help on Davante [Adams] and things like that, then Josh, and myself, whenever I can, that running game will only help. Our offensive line, give them credit for opening those holes, and the full backs, tight ends. Some of those impacts I saw when I turned around were unbelievable. But some of the cuts Josh made today, I think there was one of those little zone runs to the left and he stopped, he spun, and he went back up through it. I said, 'That's different.' He hit it, and he knew that there was a hole there, so he spun back into it and had a huge run and had an acceleration out of it which was special."
Q: What was the mindset this week? They are a pretty good defense, and you went right at them on offense.
Carr: “They're a really good defense. That's one of the better groups I've played in my nine years. It's tough. They make everything difficult. Any plays that we made, if you look at it from their perspective, they're that close also from making a play. So, they make it very hard to do anything right. The mindset this week for us was really accountability. Really holding each other accountable to the standard as a whole that we expect as leaders. [Davante] Tae [Adams] can tell me, 'Hey, come on now.' Or I can tell him, 'Tae, let's go.' There's no hierarchy. We're just all right here and we're all trying to do the same thing, we're going to hold each other to this standard. I thought we had our best week of practice. I thought we had our best week of preparation. Guys staying extra, staying after, getting there early, whatever it may be, to make sure they were on their assignments. I thought that was our best week of that. So, ultimately, it led to a win. It doesn't promise it, but it shows us that it's a recipe that works."
Q: Did you guys stress being more physical this week?
Carr: “Yeah, I think especially with the way that Josh [McDaniels] wanted to take the ball to start and we were able to run the ball. The run game is what's going to help everything. If we can run the ball, it's going to make [Davante] Tae's [Adams] life easier. It won't make it too easy because they're still finding ways to do different things, and we're seeing new coverages invented every week for him. And it's special, but it allows for that physicality part – it was an emphasis to be physical. To be able to run the ball the way we did really helped win this game for us."
Q: What's the feeling in the locker room for Josh McDaniels to get his first win as head coach with this team?
Carr: “I think for him, he's trying to preach the right thing. He's trying to teach us how to do it and the way that he's seen success. I think now it validates some of the things he emphasized, and I would let him talk about what he emphasized. But the things he emphasized in the game, we did it in practice and then we did it in the game, and we won. So, I think it validates to the whole room, we got this formula each week and if we know the keys to victory and we do them in practice, we're going to do them in the game and it will help us win. I think it validates it for him. I didn't even think about it being against his former team, but I gave him the ball at the end. I kept that for him and I said, 'I know that you got a lot of wins at the other place, but it's your first one here.' I was able to do that, and that was a special moment for me to be able to hand that to him. I've done it for all the coaches that have been here, when it was their first one, so I thought it'd be right to do it for him."
Q: How important is it to create opportunities for Davante Adams on offense even when he is being double-teamed?
Carr: “There were some throws today that just of the timing of a certain play, like usually the ball needs to be out when they’re doubling, but I would pump fake or look and just try to hit him in the next window. And that takes the offensive line doing their part. For me to be able to play the game that freely, that takes them doing their part because it's going to help us, it's going to help get the football in one of our best players' hands. But there was a couple of times where they decided to single him up and he was able to get the ball. They tried to double him a couple of times in different kinds of ways with certain coverages. One play, they had three guys accounted for him and he still caught the football. That's a credit to the offensive line, allowing me to do certain things with my eyes. And it’s a credit to Josh [McDaniels], trusting us and putting certain plays in and just coming up with schemes and different ways to make it happen. And then if guys want to think up different plays and things like that, 'Hey, we saw this work before. I've seen them when they would double Darren [Waller] or double Hunter [Renfrow], I've seen this work before.' I think he takes the input; he sees what's best for our scheme and our team, and he puts them in. So, it's good."
Q: What does it say about the character of the team that morale never slipped despite the 0-3 start?
Carr: "I'm just proud of our team because we took it as men. When you're a husband, when you’re a dad, when you're a football player, whatever it is, you got to take responsibility for your actions. And I was really proud of our guys all three weeks. Sure, there was one play at the end that may have done this, or one play here that did that. But everyone was like, 'Forget that. I got six things to clean up. It's on me.' And our whole team was doing that, and that's just a recipe for good culture in the locker room. There is no pointing fingers or anything like that. We responded well and finally got our first win. That feels good."
Q: You guys got the ball back after they scored and cut the lead to two points. What's the mindset when you got the ball back on offense?
Carr: “Josh [McDaniels] called us up and he reminded us, he said to the offense and defense in a team meeting, he told us, 'You should want the burden to finish the game.’ Not hoping that someone else does their thing, or they fix the problem, whatever. Just like, ‘Hey, whatever the game asked for, if it's our turn, do our job.' And so, the fact that he talked about it, he called us up beforehand to remind us, and then when we went out there, we were able to go get points, like that feels good. And I know it feels good for Josh because that's what he's preaching to us. I guarantee when we turn on [the film] you're going to see 11 guys all doing their job and doing it the right way. That's only going to help us going forward, if we can keep that mindset."
Q: As a player, would you rather be more careful or aggressive in a final-drive situation?
Carr: “To me, it's always easier to be aggressive because if you're aggressive from the play standpoint, like he is -- and that's how he's always been -- it helps us as players. Because if it's not there, I can make it conservative. Later in game he calls a play, and they covered it. I go check in with Josh [McDaniels] -- we didn't hit it, but that's the mindset. That's him and I working together, and the team working together. Our job as an offense is to score points, so whatever that calls for, that's just kind of the mindset we're trying to keep -- when we get the ball, go score."
Q: Do you remember what your 40 time was at the NFL combine?
Carr: “They said I looked faster than I used to, today. And I said, 'That's good, because I'm 31.' I think it was lasered 4.69. Hand time, like 4.59 -- that's what I say. But it showed up today, that’s just something that if they want to double everybody, I'm going to have to do that to help the team."
Q: What goes through your mind when you see Jerry Jeudy make a taunting gesture towards Amik Robertson and then Ameek making some big plays afterwards?
Carr: "It's funny, I'm dating myself now. This is my ninth year, I'm 31 years old. Anything you see on Instagram that's seven-on-seven, everyone's making fun of somebody every time they make one catch and one play and all this kind of stuff. And [Jerry] Jeudy is a heck of a player. But that's just the world we live in now, but there's still a lot of football to play. And I think one thing that you're seeing at the professional level, is when that stuff happens, we're still professionals. There's still a lot of game to play and Amik [Robertson] kept doing his job and just kept competing. I've always loved him. He's the guy that we say is always constantly trending upward. We always say that about him, just his personality. And so, to see him make plays for how hard he works. I mean, he made some really good tackles, some big tackles, that usually those are catch and three more (yards). And he was catch and no more (yards), and that's huge for the down and distance and all that. It's a different kind of game at that point. So, he did some good fighting off some blocks on some bubble screens and making tackles. I could tell it made him mad when he did it. And he's like, 'Alright, we're going to keep playing.' It was good to see him compete that way, especially with all the injuries we got going on in the secondary. I was happy for him because he's such a good kid."
That Las Vegas Raiders travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs next. That game is on Monday, Oct. 10, and it can be seen on ESPN. The game starts at 8:15 p.m. EDT/5:15 p.m. PDT.
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