Getty Derek Carr with Drew Brees.
Whether it’s fair or not, Derek Carr has been criticized a lot of his tendency to favor throwing a short pass than airing out the ball. It’s an effective strategy for some quarterbacks but the fact that the Las Vegas Raiders have gone to the playoffs once in Carr’s tenure doesn’t help his case. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is one of the best in the history of the NFL and he’s a guy who runs an effective offense that relies on a lot of short passes.
Carr is a big fan of Brees.
“I love his game,” Carr said. “He keeps the ball moving, he’s efficient, they stay on schedule. He’s one of the best to ever play the game.”
While talking about Brees, Carr revealed that he models his game after the future Hall of Famer and used the opportunity to take a shot at the critics who don’t like his game.
“We model a lot of what we do as quarterbacks based on what he does,” Carr said. “He’d rather throw a completion than throw a 40-yard pass for an incompletion. And he has a Super Bowl ring, so he doesn’t care much about it.”
It’s an effective way to play for Brees but until the Raiders start winning more, Carr will have critics.
Carr Talks Raiders Offense
Based on Week 1, it looks like the Raiders offense is ready to become one of the best in the NFL. They moved the ball at will and Carr looked really sharp. The quarterback revealed how the Raiders attack offense.
“It’s all about yardage,” Carr said. “We’re not about where the ball is put, we’re about the yards it gains. And that’s just the offense. That’s how we play and I believe in it. If we throw accurately, little plays like that after you show them those deep shots, the run game should be there and accurate balls underneath, that’s what this offense has built on for years. And a lot of great players have made a living doing that. And we’re trying to do the same thing.”
Even last year, the Raiders were great at accumulating a lot of yards. The main problem was that they had a really hard time finishing drives with touchdowns. That wasn’t a problem in Week 1. If the Raiders can figure out how to get the ball in the end zone consistently, they’re going to have one of the best offenses in the NFL.
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Carr Knows All About Saints’ Strong Defense
The Panthers aren’t great on defense so it wasn’t too tough of a test for Carr and the Raiders. However, the Saints have an elite run defense and a strong pass defense. It’s not going to be easy to score on them. Carr knows it’s not going to be an easy game.
“Their D-line is disruptive,” Carr said of the Saints defense. “Obviously we know about Cam Jordan but all those guys; they can all get to the passer and disrupt a game so we have our hands full come Monday night but again excited for the challenge.”
This matchup against the Saints will be very telling for the Raiders. Last year, they had a really hard time against the NFL’s best. If they can at least be competitive through all four quarters of the game, it’s clear the Raiders are better than they were last year.
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