5 takeaways from Raiders’ Week 16 loss to Eagles
By John Buhler
Derek Carr wanted no part of that ferocious Eagles front-seven.
Statistically, it looks to be about a push in terms of quarterbacking in this ball game. Nick Foles struggled most of the night completing passes and he didn’t have the stable running game to lean on in his most recent start. However, he didn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the ball game. Keep in mind that he’s a backup quarterback to Carson Wentz normally.
The same cannot be said for Derek Carr. Carr has been the Raiders’ starter since his rookie year in 2014. While he was an MVP candidate last year, he looked like a backup against the Eagles’ front-seven. To be fair, most quarterbacks look like backups when dealing with the Philadelphia front-seven. However, it yielded another pitiful performance out of the Oakland passing game.
Carr completed just 15 of 29 passes for 140 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Though he was only sacked once, he had a terrible QBR of 2.8 and a quarterbacking rating of 48.1. Once again, his yards per attempt were dreadful at 4.8. Though it was better than Fole’s 4.1, keep in mind that 63 of Carr’s 140 passing yards came on that sweet vertical strike to Amari Cooper for a touchdown.
Seemingly every other snap, Eagles pass rusher Chris Long was draping his tattooed arms all over Carr in pursuit of the game. Long played an outstanding ball game. Carr was anything but outstanding. He needed to step up for the Raiders. The Raiders defense played fantastically. That was all wasted because Carr wanted no part of that ferocious Eagles front-seven.