For years I watched the people from my very own dedicated but often deluded fanbase say that Derek Carr was garbage. It just wasn’t true. Now, don’t hear me wrong, I don’t think he is Elite; he can’t just win with any garbage team. But he is good enough to make an okay team good or a good team great. Some Raider fans just never understood that.
Often, they would bring up his win-loss record all the time as a knock against him. But that would ONLY affect Derek Carr, no one else. It never made any sense to me because the defense has been horrendous for years, even before Derek Carr was drafted, and they always got turned a blind eye to how bad they are.
It also didn’t help that Derek Carr had a new coach or offensive gameplan almost every year. The first time he had the same offensive coordinator for consecutive years, he had an MVP-caliber season, and the Raiders went 12-4. The defense was decent that year, and Derek Carr had weapons to throw to. It’s like you need a team to win games or something.
Carr probably received the most hate last year. People were tired of the so-called “mediocrity” of the QB. It ramped up when the Raiders went 6-4 but stuttered to a 1-5 finish. The Carr haters called for his head, completely dismissing the defense or injuries to key offensive players. They were upset when the Raiders didn’t take a QB in the NFL draft and got Marcus Mariota. Derek Carr was supposed to be so bad that the Raiders would bench Carr for Mariota at the bye week. Laughable. The Raiders have a top-10 offense in the NFL at the moment. Trent Brown, the Raiders starting tackle, said this offense could be outstanding. It’s almost like a starting QB who is not a Patrick Mahomes, or a Russell Wilson, or an Aaron Rodgers needs an offense to work around.
The Raiders defense is still bad, averaging about 30 PPG to opponents. But the Raiders offense has been so good that it has overcome that in the most challenging part of the schedule. They went up against the Panthers, Saints, Patriots, Bills, and the Chiefs and managed to walk away with three victories. It’s what I have been saying all along: QBs need help, Derek Carr needs help. The Raiders finally gave him support, and he is flourishing. He has had the same offense for three years in a row now, and it shows. Derek Carr will lead this team to the playoffs and have an excellent record. Why? He finally got the help he needed and so rightfully deserved.
