The Oakland Raiders were unable to bounce back from their Week 2 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs as they fell on the road to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3.
The Vikings boast a vaunted defense and it was on full display against the Raiders as they routinely made life difficult for Derek Carr and the offensive line.
However, despite the lackluster performance, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden still believes there were some positives in Carr’s outing, via Raiders.com:
“I think the interception, obviously, on a quick pass is something you rarely see from Derek [Carr]. It’s certainly the pressure; you feel the pressure. But I thought overall he did some good things. I gotta take a good look at it before I say anything else.”
Gruden continued to defend his quarterback in his presser and even admitted he himself needs to improve:
“I think he might’ve missed a throw or two, there’s no question. He’s a human being like everybody else. Again, I thought he made a great drive to make it 21-7 on a flea-flicker. We get the ball back, we’re going in for a touchdown or points and we mishandle the ball on third down. That hurt us, certainly. We just gotta play better, I gotta do a lot better job myself.”
Carr rarely had much time to throw, continually being pressured by the Vikings’ stout defensive line and was often forced to throw underneath to Darren Waller. Waller finished the game with career-highs in receiving yards and receptions as he reeled in 13 catches for 134 yards, but it was still not enough to prop up the offense.
While the playcalling under Gruden has focused on getting the ball out quickly, the offensive line’s ability to pass protect has really hurt Carr’s ability to allow plays to develop downfield. Carr is an accurate deep thrower when he actually attempts them and him converting a few more a game would do wonders for an offense that has trouble generating explosive plays.
It is fair to wonder what else the Silver and Black can do remedy some of their issues. The season is already starting to feel like it may slipping away from them.
While they were unlikely to make the postseason with all the talented teams in the AFC this year, Oakland has yet to show much improvement from their much maligned 2018 NFL season where they went 4-12. Hopefully, they can get back on track in Week 4.
The post Raiders News: Jon Gruden Defends Derek Carr After Week 3 Loss To Vikings appeared first on Raiders Nation.