Andre Holmes enjoying Derek Carr’s trust in Oakland Raiders passing game

After waiting for an explosive game following an 0-4 start that saw little offensive fireworks, Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders finally broke through in a 31-28 loss to the Chargers where the passing game gave the struggling team every chance to earn an upset over San Diego. Backed by Carr’s early return from an injury scare in a solid performance, the Raiders passing game put up all four touchdowns and had Oakland in a position to win in the fourth quarter with a 28-21 lead.

Carr’s big day game at the hands of an opening up of the playbook to allow for more downfield shots at his receivers, something that many fans complained was lacking under former head coach Dennis Allen. Perhaps a result of having a bye week to make adjustments, offensive coordinator Greg Olson was allowing plenty of deep looks to show off Carr’s arm. In turn, Carr was also trusting his receivers to make catches. Something that was a problem early in the game with several dropped passes, but as the game wore on Carr continued to keep the faith in his receivers who eventually came through for him with some big plays on the day.

One of those wideouts was Andre Holmes, who last season had the best run of his career with rookie Matt McGloin under center and once again has seemingly found a connection with another rookie in Carr. This time catching passes from a second round pick rather than an undrafted free agent, Holmes had 100+ yards and two touchdowns while continuing his reputation as a player who can come out of nowhere to make an explosive play for the Raiders offense. Something that Holmes has been attributing to having trust from Carr to be able to go up and get passes if the rookie quarterback decides to take a shot at a big play.

From Inside Bay Area:

"Wide receiver Andre Holmes said Monday that he heartily approves of Carr’s intent, if not the end result.“You like to hear that he’s going to have trust in you, especially on those opportunity balls where you might have to make a play over a defensive back,” Holmes said. “He trusts you to make plays, and it’s really encouraging.”“If he sees a matchup he likes, he’s going to throw it, especially if we win on that matchup,” Holmes said. “If we made a play early on, then he’s definitely going to try to look to make another big play by throwing it out there.”"

Holmes is perhaps the Raiders brightest young wideout with Rod Streater off of the roster at the moment due to a season ending injury, something that has many fantasy experts telling the masses to pick up the tall big play threat off of the waiver wires if they can. Developing a good relationship with Carr, those experts may be onto something if the two can continue their chemistry on the field. As the trust develops between quarterback and wideout during Carr’s rookie season things can only continue to improve in the Raiders slowly building passing attack.