Quarterback Derek Carr
The Oakland Raiders will depart for Jacksonville this week to take on the Jaguars, and quarterback Derek Carr has been preparing for the game all week. Before practice on Wednesday, Carr talked with reporters about his relationship with Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles. The pair of signal-callers entered the league in 2014 and have both led the way for their respective teams during that time. The third-year quarterbacks will face off Sunday, and Carr shared his thoughts on the game and the team's preparation.
Here are the quick hits from Carr's media session:
**Heading into this week's matchup, he discussed what it will be like to face quarterback Blake Bortles.
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"I always say this when I go up against a good friend. We've created a cool little bond, texting back and forth, here and there, those things, especially when 'Oly' [former Raiders offensive coordinator and current Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson] headed that way, talking back and forth and those things just trying to help him out as much as I could. I think whenever I play against a friend, it's a good thing I don't play against them because if I played defense, it wouldn't help. I'm better off helping us on the offensive side of the ball."
Carr reflected on what went wrong against the Kansas City Chiefs, and how the team will learn from it.
"The bar that we are supposed to execute at, at all times, at every position, we didn't hit. Whether it was footwork, our eyes, a mental deal, not seeing it right. From the top down, it's like we took turns. We know we're better than that. It's like when you lose a game like that, as soon as we were done, I would have put my pads on and played the next game; can't wait to get the taste out of your mouth. We all took turns. You learn from it, you have to learn from it."
He recalled the moment former Raiders offensive Greg Olson sat down with him to talk about being the Raiders starting quarterback.
"Yes. I remember I was at church and when I got done, 'Oly' texted me actually. He said, 'Hey, coach Allen wants to talk to you.' I honestly thought, who knows what this conversation is going to be because we had Matt Schaub. I go in there and he says, 'Are you ready to be a starter?' And I said, 'Yes, of course.' So I go to 'Oly's' office and he just says, 'Alright, this is the third down package we have.' Straight into it. Of course, congratulations and all that, but let's work. From that time on, I used my time with 'Oly' to learn. He is up there when it comes to quarterback knowledge."
Carr shared what Amari Cooper has done over the past couple weeks to get better and improve during practice.
"You can also tell, we talk about the sideline deal, he worked extremely hard at that and then you see him make two, three, four catches on the sideline over and over again, keeping those feet in, dragging the foot and all those things. I think he just… I don't know. When you get into that second year, things just start clicking. Things just in your head and out there on the field and I think he's figuring it out."
He noted the importance of gaining yards through special teams, and praised running back Jalen Richard for his effort.
"Man, whenever you're standing there as an offense and you see the return go past you, that's always a good feeling. You always want to run up to the returner. That is always just a good feeling. Knowing that, 'OK, yeah, we're going out to the 50 or we're going out to the 40.' Those kinds of things. I always tell him too, if he ever gets to the five to go down, and I'll throw it to him."
