Oakland Raiders: Derek Carr’s 2018 season using advanced stats
By Sanjit T.
Deep Passes
One way a team can score quickly is by throwing it deep. For example, Patrick Mahomes threw 15 of his 50 touchdowns and 1,514 of his 5,097 yards deep. Deep passes are considered plays of 20 yards or more.
Consider this stat, the quarterbacks in the top-10 with the most deep pass touchdowns include Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Andrew Luck, some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
When you look at Derek Carr, his deep passing wasn’t very impressive. He was tied at 19 with only 5 deep touchdowns. He was also tied at 12 for the most deep pass interception at four. The craziest part of Carr throwing it deep is that he just doesn’t do it often.
Carr had the third-lowest deep percent attempts at 9.2%. Think about that, for every 100 passes, only nine are thrown further than 20 yards. On the other hand, you have Patrick Mahomes, who is throwing 16 deep passes every 100 pass attempts. The biggest issue I have with Carr not throwing deep passes is it’s holding the Raiders back.
It’s not that Carr can’t throw deep passes, the issue is he’s not getting the opportunity to do it. Carr has one of the highest deep pass completion percentage at 49%, which ranks him as the fifth-best deep throw quarterback as far as accuracy. If the Raiders throw it deep more often, Carr will get it done.