On a day he became the Raiders’ all-time leader in touchdown passes, Derek Carr was more hung up on his team’s second consecutive defeat that dropped them to 2-2 on the season and prompted the $125 million franchise quarterback to vent, “I’m sick of losing.”
Carr’s career record as a starter fell to 41-57 with Las Vegas’ 30-23 defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Entering the 2020 season, his 55 losses were the second-most by a quarterback in his first six years in the league, trailing only brother David’s 56 losses.
“I’m sick of losing,” Carr said. “I’m sick of working as hard as I do, and as we do, and going out there and losing. I mean, it sucks. Enough is enough.
“The things that are hurting us in these close games is not them; it’s us. That’s the hard part to swallow.”
Although Carr had a strong day throwing the ball against a stingy Bills defense — he finished 32-of-44 for 311 yards and two touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception in 144 pass attempts — he lost another fumble in the fourth quarter.
Three of the Raiders’ four lost fumbles in the fourth quarter this season have been charged to Carr, and the Raiders’ minus-4 turnover differential in the fourth quarter is the worst mark in the NFL.
“Me being here, my seventh year, I’ve seen too much crap,” Carr said. “I’ve seen a whole bunch of crap, if I’m just being honest with you.
“Is it going to take my positivity and my joy away? Absolutely not. I’m going to be me, regardless. But is it OK for me to be a little hot, a little pissed sometimes? Yeah. And this is one of those moments.”
Carr’s 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten with 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter pulled the Raiders to within 17-13 at the half while also tying him with Hall of Famer Ken Stabler with career TD pass No. 150.
Carr would hit Nelson Agholor for a 7-yard score with 89 seconds left in the game that got the Raiders within a score and was the franchise record-setter at No. 151. It proved too little too late, however.
“It’s never good enough when you lose, he knows that, I know that,” said Raiders coach Jon Gruden. “Statistics are great. He’s done a heck of a job for this football team, all we’ve been through with the virus and not having any offseason program and trying to break in two rookie receivers [Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards] and then losing two rookie receivers [to injury]. And not having [offensive linemen] Trent [Brown] and Richie [Incognito]. It’s been tough on him.
“I wouldn’t question one thing about Derek Carr; he’s given you everything he’s got, and he’s performing pretty darn good.”
The wins, though, have not followed. And Carr has now fumbled 61 times in his career, losing 46 of them.
“I can speak for Derek, as well: I feel like we are our biggest critics,” said second-year running back Josh Jacobs, who was bottled up for 48 yards, the third-lowest total of his young career, on 15 carries. “Every day, we try to come in and work on the little things. It’s the little things in this game that make the biggest difference.”
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