5 takeaways from Raiders’ loss to Cowboys in Week 15

Derek Carr’s fumble didn’t cost the Raiders the game, his yards per attempt did.

It was a valiant effort, but you knew that once Derek Carr switched hands with that football on a diving try at the end zone, it was going to result in bad news. It would have been first and goal for the Raiders at about the Dallas three-yard line with 20 or so seconds left on the clock. The Raiders would have at least had a chip-shot field goal try for Tavecchio to send it to overtime.

Instead, the ball came out of Carr’s outstretched left hand and rolled out of the end zone for a Cowboys touchback. That set up victory formation for the Cowboys and that was that. Some will blame the folded piece of paper or that Carr fumble for why the Raiders lost. Look a little further. What was Carr’s yards per attempt as a passer? Exactly.

When Carr is around 8.0 yards per attempt through the air, the Raiders are a tough team to beat. His yards per attempt on Sunday were a dreadful 4.5. He only completed 21 of 28 passes for 171 yards. While Dak Prescott didn’t have a passing touchdown in this game and threw two picks, his yards per attempt of 7.9 was enough to give the Cowboys a shot a victory.

Carr got out dinked and dunked by the NFC dink-and-dunk master that is Prescott. His first interception didn’t result in points. The second only resulted in a field goal. That was the pick that we though Sean Smith took it to the house. Too bad slot receiver Cole Beasley was able to get a pair of hands on him to prevent the pick-six. One on the back and one on the chin strap. Simply put, Carr didn’t air it out on Sunday night.