Evaluating Derek Carr’s Season

With his season possibly over, we'll look at Derek Carr's play this year as a whole

The Las Vegas Raiders lost virtually all hope of having a playoff berth this season, and they also might have lost their starting quarterback for the rest of the year.

That’s the possibility for Derek Carr after he sustained a groin injury early in the game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Likely miss at least next week’s game against the Miami Dolphins, it gives us time to evaluate Carr’s season.

Coming into the year seeking respect, Carr opened the season with five straight games where he had a QB rating of 107 or more.

Carr also was completing 73 percent of his passes and had 11 touchdowns to one interception in that stretch.

In the nine games since that, though, Carr has had a QB rating of only 100 twice, and his completion percentage has fallen nine points to 64 percent in those nine games and he’s thrown six more interceptions.

As the team's failures mounted (not due to Carr) he had to take risks to help the team win.  That isn't on Carr.

This also isn’t mentioning the troubles Carr has had with fumbles this season as he’s coughed the ball up 11 times.

Still, Carr has kept his QB rating at over 100 for the whole season for just the second time and has the ninth highest QBR rating in the league.

Altogether, it would seem reasonable to say that Carr had performed at a top-10 caliber level for the majority of the season.

Still, as the Raiders' play has suffered in recent weeks, he’s also suffered along with that. Some had even mentioned him as a down ballet MVP candidate when the Raiders were 6-3.

Carr finally was earning the respect he wanted, but if the Raiders continually fail to finish the season well, no matter how good Carr’s numbers maybe, he’ll always be at the head of the blame for why the team can never take the next step. 

It is fundamentally unfair to blame Derek Carr, for the failures of the defense.  Sadly, fair or not, many will.  But the reality is simple.  He is a top-ten quarterback on a team with a very bad defense.  That isn't on Carr.

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