Derek Carr Week 17 Postgame Quotes
By Chase Ruttig
Dec 28, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) prepares to pass against the Denver Broncos in the fourth quarter at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos defeated the Raiders 47-14. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Derek Carr’s rookie season finished with another loss, but the second round draft pick ended the year as the only rookie quarterback in Oakland Raiders history to start all 16 games for the franchise in a year that was individually successful despite a disappointing 3-13 record.
Carr finished with over 3,000 yards passing and 21 touchdowns as a rookie, limiting himself to just 12 interceptions while showing he is capable of leading the offense to wins in big wins against the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers as well as the Buffalo Bills to close out the season. A loss to the Broncos not distracting from the fact that Carr got better as his first year progressed, finishing the year strong to show he is a potential franchise quarterback for the Raiders.
Following the Week 17 defeat Carr spoke to the media in Denver about his first year, the final game of the season and what his offseason plans are to improve going into Year 2 in Oakland. Below is a transcript of Carr’s quotes to the media courtesy of the Raiders official team website:
Q: Kind of a rough start that first half.
Carr: “Yes, there’s no excuses. They were better than us today and that was evident. That’s the first thing that Coach said. The first thing Coach said to us was, ‘they were better than us and there’s nothing else to be said; they were just better.’”
Q: Do you still consider yourself the future of this franchise?
Carr: “Oh, absolutely.”
Q: From today, what makes you say that?
Carr: “Just everything, just really the whole season, from what I’ve been told, from what has gone on, the way things have gone on. I’m probably the least stressed person right now.”
Q: Do you think it’s a plus on your side that you survived the season, it’s been a rough season in a lot of ways, you survived to play every game and came out whole?
Carr: “Yeah, it’s always a blessing to come out healthy. You always want to do that. This game, as we saw late in the game, this game is not friendly. Our prayers are going out to his [David Bruton, Jr.] family and him for healing and just peace for that family because this game is hard. We saw it right there. So any time you come out of the season healthy or at least somewhat healthy, you’ve got to count that as a plus. That’s definitely a blessing.”
Q: What are you going to do in the offseason?
Carr: “The first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to take – I say a couple weeks, but it never is – I’ll take two weeks, but it’ll be less than that and my wife will be mad at me, rest. Then I’m back to work, starting off slow physically. Obviously your body just went through a beating all year, so physically I’ll be kind of slow in that. I probably won’t throw for a while – take that off completely. But then I’m going straight to work because I’m not going to let that happen again, a season like that, as long as I’m the quarterback in Oakland, which will be for a long time. That’s not going to happen anymore.”
Q: On the flea-flicker play, did that kind of tell you it wasn’t your day?
Carr: “Yeah, I mean there’s always things like that when things are that close…but this game, I can’t say this wasn’t our day. I can say they played better than us. That’s what I can say. Of course you want to connect on those. We’ll go back and look at the film and see what happened, but for lack of a better term, it was not our day.”
Q: What do you have to get better at?
Carr: “For me, really it’s just taking all the knowledge right now because right now I’ve gained so much knowledge throughout the season, I have so many notes. I need to sit down and put my notes out and see, ‘hey, these are the three main areas where I need to progress or get better.’ Whatever it is. I wish I had an answer for you, but I need to sit down because I have notes compiled throughout the year, things that I want to do and need to do. I’m going to do that and whatever those things are, I guarantee that they’ll be fixed. I’ll come back and whatever those things need to be, those things will be fixed for next year.”
Q: So you literally have a notebook full?
Carr: “Oh I have probably over 20 notebooks that I’ll have to go through.”
Quotes from Raiders.com