Tag: Derek Carr

5 key things to know about Chargers’ Week 4 opponent: Raiders

Highlighting important things to know about the Chargers’ opponent ahead of Week 4.

The Chargers are back at home, this time in primetime, to take on the Raiders in the second division matchup of the regular season on Monday, Oct. 4 at 5:25 pm PT.

Here are five key things to know about Los Angeles’ opponent ahead of the Week 4 bout:

Outstanding offense

Just when you thought the Chargers’ offense was top-tier, the team will be going up against the cream of the crop. With quarterback Derek Carr playing some of the best football that he has in his career, the Raiders offense ranks first in the league in total offense (471.0 yards per game), first in passing (379.7 ypg), and tied for fifth in points (30.0 points per game).

Wide variety of weapons

With Carr leading the league in passing yards with 1,203, four of his weapons have each surpassed 200 receiving yards: Henry Ruggs, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, and Bryan Edwards. In addition, each touchdown Carr has thrown has been caught by a different receiver.

Middle of the pack defense

With former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley calling the shots in Las Vegas now, his unit currently ranks 14th in total defense (355.7 ypg), 12th in passing (235.3 ypg), 21st in rushing (120.3 ypg), and 14th in points allowed (24.0 ppg).

Maxx on a mission

There’s Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Joey Bosa, but Maxx Crosby is on a mission to stack himself among these top-edge defenders. After racking up 17 sacks in his first two seasons combined, Crosby is just one sack away from becoming the eighth player in franchise history with at least 20 sacks in his first three seasons. In addition, he leads the NFL in quarterback pressures (25).

Familiar faces

Along with Bradley, there will be some others that formerly wore blue and gold. The players are Denzel Perryman, Casey Hayward Jr. and Darius Philon, while the coaches are made up of defensive backs coach Ron Milus, linebackers coach Richard Smith, assistant defensive backs coach Addison Lynch (2018-20), and defensive quality control coach Ryan Milus (2019-20).

Miami Dolphins’ Elandon Roberts returns pick of Derek Carr 85 yards for score

Elandon Roberts of the Miami Dolphins with the 85 yard pick-six

The Las Vegas Raiders playing to the level of their competition?

It feels that way early at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday as the Raiders fell behind by two touchdowns.

The opening one saw Derek Carr throw a pass that was caught by Miami Dolphins’ LB Elandon Roberts.

There was nothing but turf in front of him and 85 yards later he was in the end zone.

The Raiders did find a way to get on the scoreboard, notching a safety.

Raiders, Dolphins Wednesday injury report: RT Alex Leatherwood fully practices with back issue

Raiders, Dolphins Wednesday injury report: RT Alex Leatherwood fully practices with back issue

Several questions linger about the Raiders injury situation. But a couple of them look to be answered with their first injury report for the week. Monday, Jon Gruden said right tackle Alex Leatherwood was being evaluated for a back injury. The evaluations apparently came back positive because Leatherwood was a full participant in practice.

Gruden experience minor concern about the status of Derek Carr’s ankle, but today said Carr was “ready to go” and he too fully practiced.

Those who did not practice were G Richie Incognito (calf), RB Josh Jacobs (ankle), S Dallin Leavitt (concussion), and S Roderic Teamer (ankle).

As for Jacobs, there is some potentially good news. Though he was still not practicing, his injury status is now just an ankle. It was a toe and an ankle on last week’s injury report.

For the Dolphins, they were without QB Tua Tagovailoa who head coach Brian Flores has ruled out for the game with a fractured rib. He will be replaced by Jacoby Brissett.

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Secret Superstars: The NFL’s best underrated players in Week 2

Derek Carr, Sam Darnold, Rashawn Slater, and Melvin Ingram lead Doug Farrar’s Secret Superstars list for Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season.

Every NFL season features a certain number of players who come out of nowhere to surprise and entertain at a level we did not expect. Perhaps they’re veterans for whom everything finally clicks. Perhaps they’re rookies who show that the NFL curve can be navigated at a quicker pace by some more than others.

Whatever the circumstances, there were several players who either expanded their 2020 performances, or came into the NFL as first-year players in 2021 and showed that they didn’t need too much preparation to ball out at a professional level.

Here are the NFL’s Secret Superstars for Week 2 of the 2021 season.

Schofield’s QB Camp: Derek Carr, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers among passers who shined in Week 2

Mark Schofield dives into the quarterbacks who impressed in Week 2 of the NFL season.

After a fascinating first week of NFL action, the second week of the season perhaps leveled the professional landscape a bit.

The Green Bay Packers, after a brutal season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints, evened their record thanks to a vintage performance from Aaron Rodgers. The Cleveland Browns, a preseason darling for many in the media, got back to .500 as Baker Mayfield continues to put up impressive completion numbers.

Then there are the only two teams with unblemished records in the AFC: Denver and Las Vegas. Just like we all predicted. But both Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr were solid on Sunday.

Oh and 44-year old Tom Brady threw five touchdowns.

Let’s dive into the week that was from the quarterback standouts in the NFL.

Win in Pittsburgh has Raiders jump out to 2-0 start but wary they must keep it going

Raiders are 2-0 but recent past serves as reminder it’s how you finish that matters

This feeling should be very familiar if you’re a Raiders fan. It should feel somewhat familiar if you’re a fan to see the Raiders sitting at 2-0. That’s where the Raiders are right now after a big win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

It should feel familiar if you’re a fan to be telling everyone that they never should’ve doubted the Raiders after big unexpected wins to start the season. There is certainly a lot of that happening right now. And understandably so.

It should all feel familiar because the Raiders were in this same position last year.

Last year, the Raiders had a big win on the East Coast to begin the season at Carolina and then they came home for their first-ever game at Allegiant Stadium to upset the Saints on Monday Night Football.

This year they began the season with a big upset over the Ravens on Monday Night Football in the first-ever game at Allegiant with fans present. Then today they took the trip to the Eastern time zone to beat the Steelers on a short week.

West Coast teams playing out east at what is 10 am on their bodily clocks and in a hostile environment is always a disadvantage. More so than even a regular road game away from your own friendly confines. But, again, the Raiders had success away from home last season, so Gruden isn’t buying into the accomplishment.

“We were 6-2 last season on the road. So, it’s not like we’re going home celebrating,” Jon Gruden said. “We’ve got two wins, two AFC wins, and we got to get ready for Miami. So, we got to keep out level-headedness.”

That 6-2 road record didn’t mean much considering they had the inverse record at home. Neither did their 2-0 open to the season considering they faded down the stretch of the season.

So, as you can see, these comparisons to last season are not ones that I’m making on my own. These are the comparisons the Raiders are currently making, because they know that being 2-0 — while awesome, and impressive — won’t mean much if they can’t keep it going.

“We’ve started 2-0 before, but we got to keep going,” Derek Carr said after the game. “We can’t let this thing go downhill. Keeping in the mindset, staying in the process, staying in the channel, those are all the things that matter. . .

Carr talks about the mindset of the team giving him confidence they can sustain their success this season. Several players have been asked about the confidence in this team. And it’s honestly the same thing we’ve heard so many times before.

Last season, when the Raiders started the season 6-4, Carr said that 6-4 felt different than the same 6-4 record in 2019 and then the team collapsed just as they had in 2019. Probably best to not buy into this 2-0 feeling being any different than last season’s version. Gruden certainly isn’t buying into it.

“We’re all confident, we have a confident group. We were confident last year,” Gruden responded to the question of team confidence. “We lost some heart-breaking (games). Gut-wrenching, disgusting losses at the end of football games. So, we got a long way to go and we’re nowhere near perfect.”

There are signs that could suggest this team might be better equipped to sustain success. The play of the defense first and foremost. And it also is a good sign that Gruden and his players aren’t falling into the traps of thinking things are going to be completely different this time.

If things are to be different, they have to make it so. And it is still very early yet. Enjoy the win, but make no mistake, there’s a lot of work still to be done. As Carr said it “Everyone after the game is like ‘hey, we’ll celebrate on the plane, but as soon as we land we’ll get back to work’.”

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Raiders use ‘collective effort’ to make up for O-line woes in big win over Steelers

Raiders use ‘collective effort’ to make up for Oline woes in big win over Steelers

Right now the Raiders are celebrating another big win. They leave Pittsburgh with an impressive 26-17 victory over the Steelers. The most impressive thing about this Raiders win was that they weren’t firing on all cylinders.

Just like in the season opener against the Ravens, things started off slowly. But the Raiders hung around all game long and pulled away late.

It was like the Raiders were playing with house money much of the game. Two of their first three scoring drives ended terribly.

Their first scoring drive featured two straight fumbles; one on a strip-sack by TJ Watt which John Simpson recovered and the next a fumbled snap. Their third scoring drive went all the way to the two-yard line only to have three offensive line penalties back them up to the 22.

Even with Darren Waller held to one catch for eight yards, the offense stalling and bumbling and stumbling they still headed into the half with a 9-7 lead because the defense was holding up.

The second half saw more find play from the defense, but it was joined by the passing attack taking things up a notch.

They broke through on their second drive with Carr finding Bryan Edwards, Hunter Renfrow, and Henry Ruggs all for sizable gains. The drive finished off with a touchdown pass to Foster Moreau.

Despite not scoring a touchdown until late in the third quarter, the Raiders headed into the fourth quarter with a 16-7 lead.

The run game going nowhere. Josh Jacobs was out with injuries to his toe and ankle, so the starting running back was a recent addition, Peyton Barber. Heading into the fourth quarter Barber was averaging less than a yard per carry.

“You’re missing a superstar in Jacobs, the whole Oline is banged up, all these kind of things,” Derek Carr said after the game. “The AFC North, they want to stop the run, so we knew we were going to have to throw it to have a chance to win.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Steelers got back in it. A 52-yard bomb from Ben Roethlisberger to Chase Claypool set up a 25-yard touchdown pass to RB Najee Harris. But the Raiders saw the deep completion to Claypool and raised them with Derek Carr launching a 61-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III to bring it back to a two-score lead at 23-14.

A deep ball catch like that, in which Ruggs shows off his breakaway speed, is just what they need from him. Carr had been looking for it all game long and he finally found his moment.

“They gave us a good look,” Carr said. “But Henry’s so fast, and speed kills, and the advantages of his speed showing up that he can get open so fast.”

“When I saw that [play] one it was just run,” Ruggs said. “He threw it up and it was just go get it. And that’s all I could think of. Go get it and don’t drop it.”

A field goal would bring it back to a one-score game, but with 3:37 remaining the Raiders run game showed up just enough to bleed the clock down and allow Daniel Carlson to came out and put the game away with a 45-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining.

“When we had to run it, it was a beautiful thing, we were able to do it,” Carr said of that final drive. “I’m sure we can look at the film and see we could do this or this better, but that’s every game, win or lose. But very proud of our guys, coach Cable… he’s unbelievable. What he can do with, not just the first string guys, but with anybody. They come in and they play and they’re ready to fight. They did at the end. We were able to run the ball and kill some time.”

Derek Carr’s big-time second half had him finish the game with 382 yards and two touchdowns.

“I just let his performance speak for itself,” head coach Jon Gruden said of his QB. “I’ve been clamoring for Derek Carr since I’ve been here, so hopefully he gets some recognition for doing what he did today. He had some long drives, he was big again at the end of the game against a great defense two weeks in a row and it’s a big reason why we’ve been able to win.”

Leading the way again for the defense was the pass rush. Solomon Thomas put up two sacks while Maxx Crosby had five QB hits.

The secondary was flying around as well, with Casey Hayward and Trayvon Mullen each putting up two pass breakups.

“If George [Atkinson] and Jack [Tatum] were around, they’d be proud of some of the hits, legal hits,” Gruden said of the pass defense. “They were flying around, they had some good vision on the quarterback, they had some good breaks, and made some tremendous plays. Had to have those plays. Thought the rush was pretty good, they threw it quick, stopped the run for the most part, and got off the field on third down in some key moments.”

The Raiders’ leading scorer was Daniel Carlson with 14 points on four field goals and two extra points. He remains perfect on the season and hasn’t missed a field goal try since week seven of last season.

“Just a collective effort. By all three phases,” Gruden said of his team’s performance. “That’s what you have to do to win in this league, on the road against a good team.”

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Watch: Derek Carr goes long ball late to Henry Ruggs III for 61-yard score

Watch: Derek Carr goes long ball late to Henry Ruggs III for 61-yard score

We have a good ball game in Pittsburgh. Where the Raiders and Steelers have been trading blows all day. Then early in the fourth quarter, Henry Ruggs got a step on his defender on a post route and Derek Carr aired it out for a majestic 61-yard touchdown.

It’s the biggest connection we’ve seen between Carr and Ruggs since the Raiders made the Alabama speedster the first receiver taken in the 2020 NFL Draft. And it’s exactly the type of play that the Raiders drafted him to make.

The catch put the Raiders up 23-14 over the hometown Steelers who had just a bit earlier had a 52-yard hookup between Ben Roethlisberger and Chase Claypool.

The Ruggs catch was his fifth of the day, putting him at 113 to take the team lead. Meanwhile Derek Carr has been spreading the ball around and that connection put him over 300 yards for the game. Most importantly it gave the Raiders a two-score lead late.

Raiders QB on Renfrow: ‘He has surprised me every day’

When Hunter Renfrow joined the Raiders in 2019, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr did a double take and had to make sure that the 5-foot-10, 185-pound guy was actually the wide receiver they drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. “Very first …

When Hunter Renfrow joined the Raiders in 2019, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr did a double take and had to make sure that the 5-foot-10, 185-pound guy was actually the wide receiver they drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

“Very first time I saw Hunter, I had to make sure that was really him, and it was,” Carr told reporters this week.

Since that time, Carr says, Renfrow has surprised him every day with his play on the field.

In his first two seasons with the Raiders in 2019 and 2020, Renfrow racked up a total of 105 receptions for 1,261 yards and six touchdowns.

The Clemson legend began his third season with the Raiders on a good note, catching six passes from Carr for 70 yards in the Raiders’ overtime victory over the Ravens last Monday night.

“He has surprised me every day since (joining the Raiders),” Carr said. “The way he sees the game, the way he plays the game – super tough, unbelievably athletic, quick, agile. I mean, he goes against some of the best corners in the world, and he finds a way to get open and make plays. So, I think the biggest thing I love about him is he sees the game the exact same way that I do. So, he runs some unorthodox-type routes, but I kind of see it that way. I think it makes it harder for defenses, and I think that’s why we’ve just had a great relationship and a great chemistry since he got here.”

Renfrow credits Carr, who has been the Raiders’ quarterback since 2014, for playing a big role in his NFL development and helping him become the professional receiver he is today.

“I love Derek,” Renfrow said to the media. “He’s been big for me in that maturation process. Just all his knowledge, his eight years of knowledge, and being able to convey that to me – it’s becoming simpler and simpler. I’m able to recognize defenses a little better, and the little things that should take place as you play more and get more experience. So, hopefully it continues to slow down. 
 Really, that’s why we’re all here. That’s why we do our jobs and we try to get better from year to year, no matter what you do, and hopefully I’m able to keep getting better and better.”

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Renfrow unfazed by the shots he took Monday night

Although the Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly filed a complaint with the NFL about the dirty hits Hunter Renfrow took in Monday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, Renfrow isn’t complaining. “I didn’t particularly notice anything different …

Although the Las Vegas Raiders have reportedly filed a complaint with the NFL about the dirty hits Hunter Renfrow took in Monday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, Renfrow isn’t complaining.

“I didn’t particularly notice anything different than any other game,” the third-year NFL receiver told reporters this week. “You get so caught up in the game and just winning and playing your best that you don’t even notice people, whatever they’re trying to do or anything. So, you’re so focused on doing the job that you just go out there and play.”

According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders put together video of several after-the-play and away-from-the-ball hits and sent that video to the league.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is interested to see what becomes of the situation, but said Renfrow is unfazed by the shots he took.

“They had a couple of shots on him where they definitely got the one penalty on him and then should have had another one,” Carr said to the media. “Teams, they have this thought in their head about everybody. So, with a guy that’s his size and in the slot, they’re like, ‘Maybe we just rough him up.’ I don’t know what their plan was, but I can assume, ‘Maybe we’ll get in his head.’ He still came back and made some plays.

“He doesn’t care about that stuff. I think you get to this point in your career, if you’re still here, it doesn’t really bother you, that part of the game. So, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that. But I know he’s doing all right and ready to play this week.”

Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said Wednesday that he apologized to Renfrow after a second-quarter hit, which did not draw a penalty. Renfrow ran a route near the sideline and then slowed down before being hit above the numbers and knocked off his feet by Humphrey.

“I apologized to [Renfrow] on the field,” Humphrey said. “But, yeah, that was a play I wish I could take back.”

Renfrow finished Monday’s game with six catches on nine targets for 70 yards.

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