Derek Carr was far from perfect on Sunday. He had two bad interceptions, both of which could easily have ended the season for the Raiders. However, he made the plays they needed in order to save the season for Las Vegas.
In the final two drives of the game, Carr made several huge throws to put the Raiders in a position to win. His best throw was to Hunter Renfrow on 3rd and 10 that went for 24 yards to put the Raiders in position to make the game-winning field goal.
That completion was one of four completions beyond 15 air yards for the Raiders. Take a look at Carr’s passing chart from Week 17 via the NFL’s Next Gen Stats:
Here is #Raiders QB Derek Carr's passing chart vs. Colts in Week 17 pic.twitter.com/WXsUJd5VwJ
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) January 3, 2022
It’s interesting to see so many completions for Carr on the left-hand side of the field, near the line of scrimmage. He completed 11 passes in that short area without an incompletion. It’s clear that he saw a weakness there for the Colts and decided to attack it relentlessly.
While it was really nice for the Raiders to get this win, but they will need Carr to be even better in Week 18 in order to defeat the Chargers. Can Carr play another elite game to get the Raiders back into the playoffs for the first time since 2016?
We will find out next week on Sunday Night Football in the final game of the 2021-2022 season.
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