The sports media can be a bit harsh, it’s true. NFL media especially holds quarterbacks to a high standard. As you might expect for a position as important to its respective sport as the quarterback position has become for the game of football.
At one time Derek Carr was in the good graces of those same harsh critics. His third NFL season, in 2016, he had led the Raiders to more fourth-quarter comeback wins (seven) than any other quarterback in football. He put the team on his back and led them to 12 wins and their only berth into the playoffs in the past 17 seasons.
Carr reaped the rewards of that. He was in the MVP conversation much of the season and not long after signed a deal to become the NFL’s first ever $25 million man on a five-year $125 million extension.
Since then, however, things have not gone swimmingly for him and the criticism has gotten louder. So, when he was asked today if he had ever considered opting out of COVID-19 concerns, he said unequivocally “I did not” and explained his reason why.
“I have a lot to prove to myself. I have a lot to prove to this organization,” Carr said over conference call Tuesday. “I’m going to be completely honest with you, I’m tired of being disrespected. So, there was no question I was going to play this year.”
How has Carr felt like he’s been disrespected? He says it isn’t the team adding Marcus Mariota to compete at quarterback, despite most thinking Mariota comes in as the first real competition Carr has had on the team since he was named the starter in 2014.
“I’ll tell you one thing, in our quarterback room, you have to compete. That’s what I do,” Carr said of his relationship with Mariota. “Anybody who’s around me (knows) all I’m going to do is compete. I’ve had multiple starters in the NFL come in here and be in the same room as me. You can go through the list of who’s started games and who’s been in our quarterback room. It happens all the time. But when you go 7-9, people like to make up stuff.”
Mariota is a former second overall pick who has 61 NFL starts to his name at age 26. He is widely legitimate competition for the Raiders starting job. But is he just the latest in a string of former starting quarterbacks Carr has beaten out in his career? Let’s see.
As a rookie, Carr was named the starter out of camp over veteran Matt Schaub. Since then the former starting quarterbacks who have entered the Raiders’ quarterback room to compete with Carr in order of number of previous starts looks something like this: Mike Glennon (22), EJ Manuel (17 starts), Matt McGloin (six starts), Nathan Peterman (four starts), and AJ McCarron (three starts).
That’s a combined 52 starts between them — nine few than Mariota has by himself over five seasons. In those 52 starts, those quarterbacks have a combined 16 wins. While Mariota won 29 of his 61 starts.
It’s that lack of wins that Carr sees as contributing to the NFL “hype machine” which has glossed over what he deems a great season for him in 2019.
“I played way better last year than I did in 2016 and yet all we do is talk about that. We won 12 games, so yay, everyone was excited,” Carr said. “I’m done with all that stuff. So, you can say good stuff, you can say bad stuff, but I think you can sense that in the last probably year or so, you can say whatever you want, I’m trying to go win a Super Bowl so we can hang one of them banners in this beautiful indoor (stadium) that we’ve got.”
Whether Carr indeed had a better season last year, despite none resulting in wins, depends on which stat you choose to look at. Completion percentage? Sure. He completed over 70.4 percent of his passes last season compared to 63.8 percent in 2016. Likewise, he had a better passer rating last season (100.8) than in 2016 (96.7). But past that, there isn’t much to suggest he was better.
He had more yards per game in 2016 (262.5) than last season (253.4) which means he would have had more total passing yards had he not broken his fibula in week 16. He also had more touchdown passes (28) and fewer interceptions (6) in 2016 than last season (21 and 8).
Those better numbers led to 26 points per game in 2016 compared to 19.5 points per games last season. When you average a touchdown less per game, you will not win as many games. It’s all connected and it starts with the quarterback. It’s about lifting his team. Something he did in 2016 and hasn’t been able to do since. Do it and earn your respect back.
[vertical-gallery id=70932]
[lawrence-newsletter]