Derek Carr Archives - IdealCapper

For Bills LB Alexander, Raiders’ success no surprise

Associated Press — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 05:00:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Spending just a year around players like Derek Carr and Khalil Mack was enough for Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander to see that the Raiders were on the verge of turning things around in coach Jack Del Rio’s second season in Oakland.

”That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to sign back because I knew they were going to be a Super Bowl contender with all the young talent they had just based on last year,” Alexander said.

He’ll get an up-close look at the resurgent Raiders (9-2) on Sunday when the Buffalo Bills (6-5) visit Oakland.

While the Raiders’ success comes as little surprise to Alexander, the production Alexander has provided the Bills has been a stunner. Known as mostly a special teams standout during his first nine seasons in the NFL, Alexander has emerged as a big-time pass rusher in Buffalo.

He has 10 sacks on the season for coach Rex Ryan – one more than he had in his first nine years in the league.

”We did not see that in him or we wouldn’t have let Rex get him,” Del Rio said ”I’m really happy for a guy like Lorenzo. He’s a consummate professional. This is a guy that busts his butt, does everything he can, every day to be a true professional. We had him around thinking that’s what we were getting is that, the leadership part of it and, honestly, we missed on this part where he’s getting 10 sacks.”

Adding to that total against the Raiders won’t be easy. Oakland has allowed a league-low 12 sacks thanks to a powerful line and Carr’s ability to get rid of the ball quickly.

”You go into a game thinking you’ll be lucky to get one sack,” Ryan said. ”It’s a combination of that offensive line, but another thing is you have a quarterback that’s not going to take sacks. He’ll get rid of it if he has to.”

Here are some other things to watch:

STOP THE RUN: The Raiders have had issues stopping the run, allowing 4.6 yards per carry and holding just two of the past 10 opponents under 100 yards. They will face an especially tough test against LeSean McCoy and Buffalo. The Bills are averaging 5.3 yards per carry – the most in the league in four years – and are seeking their first five-game streak of 150-yard rushing games since 1975. Even if the Raiders manage to keep McCoy under control, quarterback Tyrod Taylor is also dangerous with 423 yards rushing and a 6.3 average.

”It’s like they have two running backs in the backfield,” Mack said.

PROTECT THE BALL: No team has avoided turnovers as well as the Bills. Buffalo’s six turnovers are the fewest through 11 games in NFL history. The previous low over that span was eight shared by five teams, most recently Kansas City last year. The single-season record is 10, set by New England in 2010 and matched by San Francisco the following season. Taylor has four INTs and one lost fumble and rookie RB Jonathan Williams lost a fumble for the other turnover.

”It’s my job to take calculated risks, but at the same time be smart with where I’m going with the football,” Taylor said. ”Turnovers definitely don’t lead to good things in this league.”

BIG TARGET: The one part of the Raiders’ offense that hasn’t been clicking all year is the tight end in the passing game. That’s what made Clive Walford’s big game last week so important. Walford had three catches for 43 yards against Carolina, including a 14-yard catch on third-and-11, followed by a 12-yard TD on the tying drive in the fourth quarter.

”It shows that Derek still believes in me and has a lot of faith in me,” Walford said. ”I’m just grateful that I can be there for him to make a play for him like that.”

OAKLAND DROUGHT: Oakland has not been kind to the Bills in their history. Buffalo has not won a game there since Jack Kemp led them to a 31-10 victory there in 1966 . The Bills have lost all eight meetings, although they did beat the Raiders in overtime in 1991 in Los Angeles.

”Fifty years ago? Phew,” Ryan said. ”That’s amazing. Woof. You talk about a drought.”

REUNION: Del Rio and Ryan have a long history, having served as defensive assistants together in Baltimore when the Ravens won the Super Bowl following the 2000 season. Both credited former Ravens coach Brian Billick for their success and remembered fondly the days in Baltimore together when they would pretend to be draft experts Mel Kiper and Joel Buchsbaum and try to predict picks in advance.

”It was fun for us,” Ryan said. ”We got fired up for the draft. We’d have our notes and be going back and forth. It was a good time.”

—

AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report

—

For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

The post For Bills LB Alexander, Raiders’ success no surprise appeared first on IdealCapper.

Overreactions: Raiders are team to beat in the AFC

Associated Press — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Led by Derek Carr and a high-powered offense, the Raiders are 7-2 following an impressive 30-20 victory over defending Super Bowl champion Denver. Oakland enters its bye week in first place in the AFC West and getting closer to ending a 13-year playoff drought.

The Raiders are 5-0 on the road and no team wants to play them in the Black Hole.

No doubt, Jack Del Rio’s crew is headed to the Super Bowl.

That is, if Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots forget to return from their week off.

Sorry, Raider Nation. The road to Houston goes through the Patriots (7-1).

Here are other overreactions following Week 9:

—

OVERREACTION: Nine down, seven to go. The Browns are one game closer to 0-16.

REALISTIC REACTION: Perhaps the Ravens overlook them on short rest and the Browns can pull off a stunner Thursday night.

—

OVERREACTION: The unenthusiastic Packers (4-4) won’t make the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers questioned his teammates’ energy after a home loss to the Colts.

REALISTIC REACTION: They’re only one game behind the Vikings, who are sinking quickly.

—

OVERREACTION: Matthew Stafford is the best clutch quarterback in the NFL. He’s led the Lions (5-4) to five comeback wins after trailing in the fourth quarter.

REALISTIC REACTION: Brady. Rodgers. Big Ben. Stafford’s not in the top three.

—

OVERREACTION: Matt Prater is the best clutch kicker in the NFL. He’s 23 of 23 on game-tying or go-ahead field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter or overtime.

REALISTIC REACTION: There’s a guy named Adam Vinatieri.

—

OVERREACTION: The Vikings will finish with a losing record. They’ve lost three in a row after a 5-0 start.

REALISTIC REACTION: They’re still first in the NFC North.

—

OVERREACTION: Tim Tebow will play again in the NFL before Jared Goff. Rams fans chanted for both quarterbacks during a loss to Carolina.

REALISTIC REACTION: If Tebow wasn’t playing baseball, this could’ve happened already.

—

OVERREACTION: Chuck Pagano saved his job with the Colts’ win at Green Bay.

REALISTIC REACTION: A 4-5 record is nothing to brag about.

—

OVERREACTION: The Eagles are the worst team in the NFC East.

REALISTIC REACTION: They could be 7-1 instead of 4-4 if one play goes the other way in three close losses.

—

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

—

Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP-RobMaaddi

The post Overreactions: Raiders are team to beat in the AFC appeared first on IdealCapper.

Spotlight shines on trio of 2nd-year quarterbacks

Associated Press — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 06:17:41 +0000

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) The challenges facing a rookie quarterback in the NFL can be a bit overwhelming.

After spending months following the college season preparing for the draft, the player joins a new team already in the middle of its offseason program. There’s a new offense, a new lifestyle, new teammates and coaches.

By the time season starts, the quarterback is expected to have the playbook mastered, know the habits of the receivers, and prepare to face a different defense each week with more complex schemes than he ever saw in college.

On top of that comes the responsibility of holding the hopes of a franchise that has usually been struggling, or else it wouldn’t need a rookie quarterback to play in the first place.

It’s no wonder so few quarterbacks succeed right from the start.

”I don’t want to say it’s like Groundhog Day, but you’re just so caught up in it, you don’t really have a chance to digest anything. You’re just going,” Oakland second-year quarterback Derek Carr said. ”The grind doesn’t stop from training camp until the end of the season.”

That’s why Carr took time this offseason to watch every game, trying to learn why certain things worked and others didn’t, and to figure out how to correct those rookie mistakes going forward.

”Once I finally got to sit back and watch some plays, watch some film of things that I had done during the season, I could say, `Oh man, I don’t even recognize that guy. I don’t even know who that is,”’ Carr said. ”That’s a good thing. You want to be able to say, `I don’t recognize that.’ But when the good things happen, you want to be able to say, `Well, I can go out and do that again.”’

The Raiders are banking on that offseason of learning to lead to significant improvement from Carr, who showed positives with 21 touchdown passes and just 12 interceptions, but also averaged a league-low 5.5 yards per attempt.

Carr was one of three quarterbacks, along with Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles and Minnesota’s Teddy Bridgewater, who got substantial playing time as rookies last season and are being counted on to take a big step forward in 2015.

Bridgewater said he has a much deeper understanding of coordinator Norv Turner’s offense in Year 2 that will prove beneficial this season.

”Having a year under my belt, I can see why he’s calling certain plays and where he wants to go with the football,” Bridgewater said. ”Having an understanding of the coordinator, I think I’m that far ahead this year.”

Without a draft to prepare for, Bridgewater was able to put on more weight this offseason that will help him absorb hits he will take and add strength to his arm.

Bortles also used the offseason to his benefit. He worked with quarterback guru Tom House to improve his footwork after completing 59 percent of his passes for 2,908 yards with 11 touchdowns and 17 interceptions as a rookie.

He also has a new offense under coordinator Greg Olson, who worked with Carr in Oakland last season. Bortles said the game has slowed down and he is better equipped to read defenses than he was as a rookie.

”Not that it comes easy, but you’ve seen more,” he said. ”You’re seeing things before rather than last year you’re seeing stuff for the first time a little bit. And I’ll still see things for the first time this year, but you have a little bit more of a memory bank.”

All three second-year quarterbacks will also benefit from an upgrade in talent. Bridgewater gets star running back Adrian Peterson back. The Jaguars beefed up the offensive line and added Pro Bowl tight end Julius Thomas – although Thomas is sidelined with a broken finger. The Raiders giving Carr a new pair of starting receivers in first-round pick Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree.

They also have the confidence of having earned the No. 1 spot before the offseason even began.

”He’s not focused on trying to win the starting job like last year,” Raiders left tackle Donald Penn said of Carr. ”He’s just focused on making this offense as good as it can be. That’s a big lift off his shoulders.”

Predictably, playing time as a rookie has traditionally led to improvement as a second-year player. Players who started at least eight games at quarterback as rookies since 2000 saw increases in completion percentage, touchdown percentage and yards per attempt the next year, while seeing the rate of interceptions fall.

The biggest improvement came in decision making, with the touchdown-to-interception ratio for the group improving 40 percent over the rookie year.

”You know what to expect,” said Christian Ponder, who took the Vikings to the playoffs in his second year, 2012. ”Your rookie year is so crazy going from college to the combine to the draft to OTAs and right into the season. The second year the game slows down and you really understand what you’re doing.”

—

AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell and Sports Writer Mark Long contributed to this report.

—

Online:

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

The post Spotlight shines on trio of 2nd-year quarterbacks appeared first on IdealCapper.

Carr to Cooper leads Raiders to 18-3 exhibition win vs. Rams

Associated Press — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 11:18:03 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Derek Carr completed three passes to Oakland rookie receiver Amari Cooper on an opening field-goal drive and the Raiders beat the St. Louis Rams 18-3 in their exhibition opener under new coach Jack Del Rio.

Carr kept looking for Cooper and threw an interception to Trumaine Johnson in the end zone on the second drive before leaving for the night.

Nick Foles drove the Rams to a field goal on his first drive, but that’s all St. Louis could generate.

Backup Christian Ponder threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Andre Holmes and third-stringer Matt McGloin connected on a 16-yard TD to Brice Butler as Del Rio became the first Raiders coach to win his exhibition debut since Lane Kiffin in 2007.

—

Online:

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

The post Carr to Cooper leads Raiders to 18-3 exhibition win vs. Rams appeared first on IdealCapper.

Raiders QB Derek Carr returns to practice from finger injury

Associated Press — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:16:37 +0000

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) – Ever since he was big enough to throw a football, Derek Carr has done just that any chance he could get.

So when an injury to the ring finger on his throwing hand prevented him from doing just that for more than a month, the frustration level grew for Carr even if he knew that the time off was what was best for him and the Oakland Raiders.

Carr was a full participant in practice for the first time since April when he stepped back in as Oakland’s starting quarterback Tuesday for the first practice of a three-day mandatory minicamp.

—

Online:

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

The post Raiders QB Derek Carr returns to practice from finger injury appeared first on IdealCapper.

Raiders going with rookie Derek Carr

Associated Press — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 02:45:28 +0000

The Oakland Raiders have named rookie Derek Carr their starting quarterback, the team’s 18th different starting signal caller since 2003.

Carr will get the nod over veteran Matt Schaub, who is playing his first season in Oakland after spending the past seven seasons starting for the Houston Texans.

“Not an indictment on Matt Schaub, Derek Carr is mature beyond his years,” coach Dennis Allen said after Monday’s practice. “We feel very comfortable with him helping us win football games. … Derek is the starting quarterback.”

Carr, a second-round pick from Fresno State, completed of 11 of 13 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns, including two one-play touchdown passes in a 41-31 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the preseason finale for both.

Wide receiver Rod Streater, who has played with seven previous Raiders starting quarterbacks since his rookie season of 2012, praised Carr for what he’s done so far.

“He has been really consistent,” Streater said. “He keeps getting better.”

“Derek has grown [by] leaps and bounds,” Allen said. “He is ready to accept the challenge.”

Both quarterbacks have been banged up this preseason, with Carr suffering a concussion and a rib injury in one game and Schaub dealing with what the team has called a minor elbow issue.

Allen has said he wanted to wait to see how Schaub felt Monday before naming a starting a quarterback.

“Matt is disappointed but he has handled it like a pro,” Allen said.

Schaub last played in the team’s third preseason game where he went 13-for-27 and threw for 110 yards in a 31-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Schaub will be Carr’s backup with Matt McGloin serving as the team’s third-string quarterback. McGloin threw eight touchdowns and eight interceptions in seven games last season for the Raiders.

Carr is slated to be the only rookie quarterback to start Week 1. The Raiders open the season Sunday at the New York Jets.

The post Raiders going with rookie Derek Carr appeared first on IdealCapper.