The Oakland Raiders struggled mightily against the New York Jets in Week 12.
It was a bad performance on both ends. They saw struggles on defense — failing to keep the Jets out of the endzone in the third quarter. It was even worse on the offensive side of the ball. QB Derek Carr was unable to get anything going, converting just five of their 15 attempts on third down.
Carr finished the day throwing for less than 130 yards with one interception. He threw the last touchdown of the game, but it wasn’t to his own team. Nickel corner Brian Poole caught an interception one-handed and returned it for a touchdown. Carr had just one more series for the Raiders, and after a three-and-out, Jon Gruden opted to replace Carr with backup QB Mike Glennon.
After the game, Gruden defended his decision to pull Carr out of the game saying he had the best interests of the football team in mind. Carr claimed that he was pulled from the game for other reasons, but it was quite clear that his performance was the one and only reason.
With New York in the rear-view, Oakland’s quarterback shifted his focus after the game to Week 13 and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was asked about whether the team would be prepared for the critical AFC West matchup.
“We better show up or they’re going to beat us by 50,” Carr said. “That’s a really good football team — one of the best in the NFL. Hopefully our guys, myself included, when we show up to Arrowhead we’re ready to go and I believe that we will be.”
It’s not exactly the most shining vote of confidence from the Raiders quarterback. Carr added that no one was hanging their heads after the loss, but an entirely different challenge awaits. Oakland is heading to Arrowhead Stadium to face a bitter rival and they’re in a bad way. There is now a rather large shadow of doubt following around Oakland’s offensive leader heading into a pivotal AFC West matchup. The Chiefs, on the other hand, are coming off the bye and with blood in the water — they should be circling a battered Raiders team like hungry sharks.