Quarterback Derek Carr
Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had another quality day at the office Sunday, notching 287 yards through the air, with one touchdown, and a quarterback rating of 95.5. The former Fresno State Bulldog has reiterated time and again that he doesn't care how the team wins, as long as they win, and against the New York Giants the Silver and Black did just that. The victory brings the team's record to 6-6, and the Raiders are now in a three-way tie for first in the AFC West with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Los Angeles Chargers. Carr took the podium postgame to recap the afternoon.
Here are the quick hits from his media session:
Carr discussed why the offense struggled to get going early against the Giants.
"You just have to find a rhythm. We have a lot of guys playing some new spots. For us, it was just finding the rhythm, staying the course – because we knew our plan was good, the guys knew what they were doing, and things like that. We were just making sure that we stayed the course because at some point it's going to flip. We had a good feel for what they were doing, had a good plan coming in, and just wanted to make sure we were good on that."
He shared what the turnaround has been like after the team got off to a slow start.
"There's a lot of adversity that happens over the season. You wish you could just go out, win them all, and do it in a good way. But that hasn't been our road this year. It's been a little bit more difficult because of ourselves. We're in a situation that all of our goals are still right in front of us. It's just right in front of us, it's there. Everything we want to do is right there. We realize that. We have a good group of guys that's growing. Coach Del Rio said it best, our team is growing and we're learning which group of guys – it's different than last year. Every year is a new year. We're learning now – how to prepare, how to recover, how to compete. We're learning how to win games."
Carr noted that it was a group effort Sunday, and the team knew it had to get everyone involved.
"To be honest, we were going into it saying hey everyone has to feel their role. It wasn't just one guy that we were going to give it to… I thought those wide-outs, obviously, it's not an easy thing to lose your two starters. For those guys to go out there and be efficient, like you said he [Patterson] almost had 100 yards. WR Johnny [Holton] had a touchdown. WR Seth [Roberts] did his things. Our tight ends really stepped up. For them to do those things, we knew it was going to take everybody."
**At the end of the day, No. 4 just wants to go home with a "W."
**
"Trust me, I don't care how we win. I just want to win. I've said that since my rookie year when we were 0-10, I was begging for wins. We're sitting here. Obviously, you want to go out and throw for 400 every game and win by 40, rush for 200 yards and all those things. At the end of the day, this game is so hard. It's not easy. It's funny to sit and think where we were and where we're at now. We have good players and all those things, but you see just how hard it is to win these games. It takes almost every NFL game, within one score if not two. It's always going to be close. It's going to come down to the wire. So anytime you can win, doesn't matter how you do it, you just want to win."
Carr broke down his 59-yard pass to wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.
"It was an adjustment we made on the sideline based on how they were playing those kinds of plays. Coach Downing and I were able to talk through it with Coach Tice, Coach Moore on how we wanted to do it. It was actually drawn up on the sideline because we saw how they were doing it and we all just communicated really well. We saw something and liked it at the same time. So it's a good thing. When the call came in and that's what we were starting with, I was like oh yes. Hopefully it scores. We got close."
