Getty Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr.
It sure wasn’t pretty, but the Oakland Raiders have now won three straight games by a combined 16 points. Sunday’s matchup with the Cincinnati should’ve been the first easy win the team had this season. However, in the NFL, there are rarely easy wins and it looks like most Raider games are going to come down to the wire. Even though Oakland didn’t put up the most impressive win, it’s clear that this team has serious talent. Many players have thrown shade at the Madden video game because of the low ratings that most of them have and Derek Carr took another jab at them after Sunday’s win.
“My favorite thing about our team is our Madden ratings are really low but we’re pretty good at football,” said Carr.
Madden ratings may seem insignificant, but many players play the video game and get jaded when they feel they’ve been rated too low. If the team keeps winning, Madden 21 should be much kinder to this Raiders squad.
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Carr Wasn’t Happy With How He Played
Outside of dissing Madden, Carr was also unhappy with how the offense played. Putting up 17 points on the fourth-worst scoring defense in the NFL isn’t exactly the most impressive showing. Carr’s stat line was pretty good looking as he only threw four incompletions in the entire game, but he kept himself accountable for the offense’s poor performance.
“We could have had more [points],” Carr said. “Honestly, that’s how I feel. I left the game and I get our stat book and I looked at it and I was like, ‘They look pretty, but I could have played better.’ I’m hard on myself. … I think that’s the standard that Coach Gruden puts on me.”
The last thing this team should be is complacent. Three wins in a row are nice, but they are far from securing a playoff spot. The New York Jets are another bad team but have much more talent than the Bengals and are on a two-game win streak. If the Raiders offense plays like it did on Sunday, they could easily leave New York with a loss.
Turnovers Kept the Game Close
The Raiders have kept shooting themselves in the foot with bad mistakes. If it wasn’t for an early Josh Jacobs fumble or Derek Carr interception, the score for the game could’ve been much further apart.
“[Josh Jacobs] never wants to put the ball on the ground,” Carr said. “I threw an interception, he fumbled. If Coach is going to put the ball in our hands every single play, one of us, then we need to be better.”
If they make these mistakes against the Kansas City Chiefs, they aren’t going to win. The Raiders currently have one of the younger rosters in the NFL and their inexperience shows. The team is currently a year ahead of schedule and the future is incredibly bright. There’s work to do, but if Oakland can learn to mitigate the mistakes, they could surprise a lot of teams if they make the playoffs.
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