Derek Carr can make big statement to Raiders with win over Chiefs

Derek Carr needs a big statement win if he wants to remain the Raiders quarterback.

There’s no denying that Derek Carr has put up an impressive first quarter to the 2020 season—at least on the stat sheet. With 8 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, he’s shown an ability to limit mistakes and make plays, which has led to an impressive win over one contender (New Orleans Saints) and a close loss to another (Buffalo Bills).

Still the Raiders are only 2-2 because Carr has also been at the helm to a shellacking at the hands of the New England Patriots and he now faces another challenge against the Kansas City Chiefs—a team he’s never defeated at Arrowhead Stadium.

Carr is likely in his final season in Las Vegas (or Oakland or…) with a real chance to make a statement about his ability to be “the guy”. There’s already several seasons of evidence, but the Raiders haven’t fielded a competitive around him for much of that time. However, the Raiders have some nice young talent on both sides of the ball and need to see excellence from him moving forward to not consider other options next offseason.

We recently asked Brad Weiss of Just Blog Baby to tell us more about Carr and the rest of the Raiders in preparation for Sunday’s game.

What you have you learned about the Raiders offense in the first four games that you didn’t already know before the season started?

One of the biggest surprises was Bryan Edwards, who got hurt a few weeks back filing in as the WR1 when Henry Ruggs III went down. When healthy, he and Ruggs form a dynamic young duo at the wideout position, teaming with guys like Hunter Renfrow and Nelson Agholor to give the team good depth. Looking ahead, this is going to be a position of strength, and that is good news for the fan base moving forward no matter who is the quarterback.

What about the defense?

One player on the defense that I did not know would be so good is Nick Kwiatkoski, who is the team’s starting middle linebacker. With him out of the lineup, the Raiders really struggled against the run, so it was good to get him back so early from a bad pec injury. He is a guy who can go sideline to sideline, and is an elite tackler, so while he is not great in coverage, he has proven to be a quality free agent pickup so far in 2020.

The Raiders have had a tough schedule to start and came away with a nice win against N.O. What’s the confidence level for the Raiders in terms of a potential postseason berth in 2020?

I think this fan base is cautious about expectations, as the team has been to the playoffs only once since the 2002 season. The confidence inside the building is high, as Derek Carr is a tremendous leader, and has been great for the young players. This has been a rough start to the schedule, but looking ahead, there are some very winnable games ahead, so they just need to stay the course and try to lock up one of the AFC Wild Card spots.

Derek Carr’s stats look very solid through a quarter season. What’s your read on Carr as this franchise’s leader at this point?

Carr says all the right things in terms of being a franchise quarterback, and he does have the stats to back them up. If you put his stats up and did not say who it was, I am sure many fan bases would love to have his production. The problem has been wins and losses, and with all the talent the front office has brought in, a losing season in 2020 is not going to help his cause of being around long-term. I believe he should be the franchise guy moving forward, but the losses are hard to overlook.

Do you think we’ll see Ruggs on Sunday?

He has been progressing all week long, and he should be good to go on Sunday. He is a guy who completely changes the complexion of this offense, and the Chiefs are going to have to have a solid game plan for him. He opens up lanes for Waller, and Josh Jacobs, but the real question is whether or not Carr will stand in the pocket long enough to take some shots to him downfield.