How Raiders QB Derek Carr can go from good to great this season
The Oakland Raiders were excited when Derek Carr turned in a rather respectable rookie season. No, he wasn’t lights out by any means but he played really well considering he was a rookie that was surrounded by lackluster talent. In year two, he started off slowly but then exploded and soon found himself among the top quarterbacks in the league statistically. But almost as quickly as he surged, he then regressed in the second half of the season.
These kinds of ups and downs can be expected from a young quarterback, especially one on a team in the middle of rebuilding. And much like any young quarterback only two years into the league, Carr has some things he can improve upon in order to take the next step towards greatness.
Don’t Grip So Hard
Quarterback is a truly unique position in all of sports. No where else will you see one position with this much importance or who receives this much blame and credit for how an entire team does. Because of the unique nature of the quarterback position, it’s incredibly important that quarterbacks be confident leaders on the field. But for that same reason, quarterbacks will often feel the need to put a team on their shoulders and drag them to victory. This is often the case, but it can also often lead to quarterbacks trying to do too much.
I believe this happened to Carr a lot in his rookie season and at times in the second half of year two. It’s understandable and I would expect that Carr has learned from ill advised throws and will also feel more comfortable leaning on the rest of the team now that he is surrounded by a respectable roster (and an actual defense).
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Better Communication
On more than one occasion, Carr threw an interception that looked just atrocious. On each of these occasions, it turned out that the wide receiver did not do what Carr had expected them to do based on either the play call, a read of the defense or a hand signal at the line of scrimmage. Regardless of who got the play, sign or read wrong, as noted above, the quarterback is the leader of the team and it’s expected that they will lead the offense. Included in that assumption is that the quarterback will work out things like communication issues with his teammates.
Again, this is something I would expect that Carr is already working on. He took to the role of a leader early on and has held passing camps with his receivers in Fresno during the offseasons. If he wants to continue to grow, leadership will be part of it and a leader needs to ensure that communication is working properly.
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