Getty Joey Bosa sacking Derek Carr.
After an impressive 3-0, the Las Vegas Raiders have finally come back to earth. The team has overcome 14-0 deficits in wins against the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. However, a 21-0 hole proved to be too much for the silver and black.
The Raiders did show some fight and could’ve even won the game had just a couple of plays gone their way. In the end, they fell to the Los Angeles Chargers with a final score of 28-14. A big reason why Las Vegas fell behind early was due to poor play from the offensive line. Quarterback Derek Carr was pressured early and often. He’s been playing at an MVP level for most of the season but can still struggle when under pressure.
Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa had a sack in the game and decided to level some harsh comments towards Carr.
“We knew once we hit him a few times, he really gets shook,” Bosa said after the game, via Daniel Popper. “And you saw on [Christian Covington’s] sack, he was pretty much curling into a ball before we even got back there. Great dude, great player … but we know once you get pressure on him, he kind of shuts down.”
While Bosa does give Carr his props, these comments are definitely a shot at the quarterback. He’ll have to wait until the last game of the season to get revenge.
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Carr Actually Plays Well Under Pressure
Carr struggling under pressure is a common criticism for the quarterback. However, almost every quarterback has trouble when they’re consistently under pressure. Also, Carr played very well in the second half against the Chargers and was still facing pressure.
The claim that he “shuts down” under pressure just isn’t backed up by facts. According to Sports Radar, Carr had the ninth-best pass rating under pressure last season.
The Raiders offensive line has clearly taken a step back this year. Any quarterback would have issues with this current offensive line. One lackluster game won’t sink Carr’s MVP chances. The Raiders just need to bounce back at home against the mediocre Chicago Bears team on Sunday.
Carr Takes Blame for Raiders’ Loss
GettyDerek Carr of the as Vegas Raiders.
Carr didn’t put up the gaudy numbers we’ve gotten used to from him through the first three games, but he wasn’t terrible on Monday. He went 21-34 for 196 yards and two touchdowns. However, he did make some key mistakes. When the Raiders were starting to come back, he missed a deep shot to an open Henry Ruggs that would’ve kept them in the game in the fourth quarter. He also threw an interception to Derwin James that effectively ended the game. Carr was willing to take the blame for the Raiders’ loss.
“Coming here, it wasn’t really a hostile place,” Carr said after the game. “It was more of a home game, just like we thought it would be. For us to just keep going forward, we just need to be consistent. … The expectation never changes. The expectation is to win every game. We didn’t do that today, and that’s all my fault.”
The Raiders weren’t going to go undefeated so one isn’t the end of the world. That said, they need to prove that they can bounce back this week. How they play against the Bears will be very telling.
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