Getty Derek Carr with Antonio Brown.
The Las Vegas Raiders are finally back in the win column following an overtime victory over the Denver Broncos. This was the type of game the team needed to win badly. They were 0-6 in one-score games heading into Week 11 but were able to win in walk-off fashion over the hated rival.
Following last week’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, quarterback Derek Carr was so dejected that he had to hold back tears. That wasn’t the case this week. Carr was the happiest he’s been all season. He even got back on Twitter for the first time in weeks and notably responded to a former teammate. Free agent wide receiver Antonio Brown said before the game that he was betting $10,000 on “Derek Carb” and posted a picture of the quarterback that shows him photoshopped to look overweight.
That was the only tweet he sent out after the game. When Brown first came to the Raiders, he had a great relationship with Carr. That didn’t last long as the wide receiver forced his way off the team and then started taking unprovoked shots at Carr. Brown might want to make amends with the quarterback as he posted his winnings and it appears he actually did place a $10,000 bet on the Raiders to win. He also tweeted out “chicken plan,” which was a phrase that he came up with when he was still with the team.
@derekcarrqb 🐔 plan 👉🏾👈🏿👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾👈🏿👉🏾👈🏿
Carr Gets Big Greeting in Locker Room
With the Raiders going on a four-game losing streak, there were questions regarding if head coach Josh McDaniels and Carr have lost the locker room. That doesn’t appear to be true. After the win over the Broncos, McDaniels and Carr got huge greetings in the locker room.
Victory Monday calls for a celebration 🙌
This is a roster full of players who care about each other. There are a lot of reasons the team isn’t winning but it doesn’t appear to be due to anybody losing the locker room. This is the type of win the Raiders desperately needed. The playoffs are highly unlikely this season but the team can certainly build off of this win and start winning games at a more frequent rate.
Carr Talks Win Over Broncos
The win over the Broncos has to feel extra good because it’s over a division rival and McDaniels’ former team. The fact that the Raiders proved they could win a close game has to be great for team morale. Carr believes that everybody on the team did a great job this week.
“We’ve been so close so many times,” Carr said after the game. ” … And we’re a few plays here, a few plays there, and I think our guys learned how hard it is. Like, this is the kind of effort and strain it takes. Josh [McDaniels] did a great job of helping minimize certain things to help us as a team and just to help us be better. … I think that we all found a way to play better, to do our job at a high level.”
There are still a lot of games left to be played this season and the Raiders looked far from perfect over a mediocre Broncos team. There’s still a lot of work to do for Las Vegas the rest of the way.