Oakland Raiders: Preseason Week 3 takeaways
By Austin Gayle
Derek Carr Showing Early Signs of Success
As he enters his third year in the NFL, the league-wide expectation is that Carr continues to blossom as one league’s best quarterbacks, and fortunately for Oakland, he is already off to a hot start.
Despite him having somewhat of an underwhelming first two weeks of the preseason, Carr was able to take advantage a Titans defense that finished 7th overall in passing yards allowed per game in 2015.
Carr completed 12 of his 18 pass attempts for 169 yards and two touchdowns, while he also displayed his functional mobility on a first-down run that went for 17 yards.
When looking beyond his stats, something to highlight is Carr’s improved ability to throw the deep ball. In all three of the Raiders’ preseason games Carr has looked impressive when pushing the ball deep down the field to either Amari Cooper or Michael Crabtree on the outside. Against Tennessee, Carr hit Crabtree in stride streaking down the sideline for a 41-yard gain early in the first quarter, while he also dropped a dime to Cooper in the back of the end zone for a 29-yard score.
When asked how he worked on his deep accuracy with both Crabtree and Cooper, Carr emphasized in his postgame press conference the importance of getting a high volume of repetitions in practice.
Look for Carr to continue to push for those reps as he prepares for the regular season.