Quarterback Derek Carr
It's only been a little over a week since Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr suffered his broken fibula, but the team's signal-caller seems to be in great spirits. Tuesday afternoon, Carr went on the air with 95.7 The Game's Greg Papa to recap his Christmas Eve injury, as well as the team's preparation for the Houston Texans this Saturday. He also commented on the team's recent loss to the Denver Broncos.
Here are the quick hits from Carr's conversation:
**No. 4 reflected on the play he suffered his broken fibula, and discussed down his mentality as it occurred.
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"It's so hard for me to answer that, because in hindsight yes. Obviously as soon as he grabs me I would've went down because nothing bad happened until I tried to fight for more, but that's who I am, it's in me. This game is tough sometimes, those kind of things are going to happen, obviously it's the most violent sport there is out there, so things like that are going to happen. I don't want to say I would do something differently, but obviously I wish I did… I'm never going to stop fighting and I think that's what's gotten me to this point."
He shared his thoughts while he rode the cart to the x-ray room to receive clarification about the injury.
"To be honest, when I got in the cart and we were going off, I was just praying for good news, to be honest. That's what I was praying for, I was praying for whatever this is, whatever this bump in the road is I hope it's a small one. You don't know at that moment, until you get the x-rays, the MRIs, they look at it and all these things, you don't know anything. They can guess, but there's not a lot they can really figure out until they see pictures, so I was just praying for good news."
Carr explained what it was like watching his first Raiders game from home.
"It ripped my heart out, it did. I just sat there on my couch with my foot propped up, my wife sitting by me, and my boys playing with their monster trucks on the ground together. We sat there and we watched it together, we had lunch together, we sat there and it was hard for me. I had the game plan in front of me, Coach [Bill] Musgrave gave me a game plan so I could have it in front of me, and see what plays were coming. I could see what we were going through and doing, that way I could play the game in my head, and I was basically just playing the game in my head."
The Raiders signal-caller talked about what the team needs to do to be effective against the Texans in the playoffs.
"We've got to run the ball efficiently, you've got to be accurate on the perimeter. Running the ball efficiently is tough to do against playoff defenses, but it's something you've got to do if you want to win. On the perimeter they're a sticky coverage unit, so you've got to be accurate with your passes. Got to be precise and those things, and that kind of bodes usually for all games, but these guys especially."
Carr discussed how he is when it comes to taking reps during practice and how he prepares.
"The way that I am, some quarterbacks are different, but the way that I am I need every single rep in practice that I can have. All during the year, once we break training camp, I'm taking 99.9% of them because that's what I need to prepare… It's not as fun for the other guys, but they're great about it and working with me and things like that."
