Getty Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders.
It was a rough start to the season for Derek Carr. The Las Vegas Raiders fell behind 14-0 to the Baltimore Ravens in the first half and Carr made a number of poor throws. It was looking like the game was about to get ugly but the whole team started to pick things up.
Carr was elite in the second half, throwing for 308 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Raiders to a 33-27 win in overtime. He was also responsible for throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Zay Jones. However, before the game-winning pass, Carr had a chance to win it with a throw to Willie Snead. The ball went right through the wide receiver’s hands and was intercepted.
After the game, Snead took to Twitter to call himself out for not making the catch.
I obviously can’t catch now 😂😂😂 #JustWinBaby 1-0
Carr wouldn’t let Snead take the blame and said he could’ve thrown a better pass.
@Willie_Snead4G Stop! 😂 I’ll throw it better that’s on me. But we won!
Former Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots running back Danny Woodhead took note of the exchange and praised Carr for his leadership. He also said that he wished he could’ve had a chance to play with the quarterback.
Woodhead played his fair share of games against the Raiders as a Charger. He scored a total of six touchdowns against the team in six career games. The Raiders probably would’ve liked it better if he was wearing silver and black in those games.
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Carr Lauded for Postgame Interview
It’s fair to say that Carr is an underrated quarterback. A big reason for that is that the Raiders haven’t won a lot of games since he joined the team. That hasn’t always been his fault as the team has had issues for almost two decades. Even though he was the man who threw the game-winning touchdown pass, he used his postgame interview to specifically praise Jones for making the catch.
“Beautiful think about that [last play] is there an audible that coach told me during the week ‘hey if we ever get this look, get ready for this play,’ and Zay Jones was it,” Carr said on the ESPN postgame broadcast.
“Since he got to our team every time I ask him to throw, he’s there at 6 AM. Every time. He never missed one. So to see him come up with the game-winner like that. … I hope everyone in the world roots for Zay Jones because he works harder than anybody on our team.”
Many took note of Carr taking the time to single out a teammate who isn’t a big name and praised him for his leadership.
Derek Carr used this national interview to specifically praise a teammate. I just became a forever fan.
HARD. WORK. PAYS. OFF. 😤😤
cool of Carr to share this Zay Jones anecdote
Carr Also Praised Defense After Win
While Carr still has plenty of critics, nobody could accuse him of being a bad leader. He takes the blame when the team loses and praises others when the team wins. Not only did he praise Jones after the game, but he also commented on the defense stepping up when they needed to.
“We harp on the defense so much,” Carr said. “You hear this. You hear that. You see a lot of coordinators come in and go.
“For them to make the play at the end and give us chance after chance after chance with all their stops – I hope someone praises the defense. They deserve it. Were they perfect? No.
“Were we as an offense? No. But we won as a team.”
Candid, genuine, informative and emotional post-game interview from Derek Carr. This guy loves playing football, and relishes the journey of it with his teammates. Really cool stuff
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