Oakland Raiders Film Review: Derek Carr’s touchdowns and interceptions

Week 2 vs Kansas City Chiefs

As impressive as Carr was against the Broncos, his performance against the Chiefs was a frustrating one. The quarterback posted a completion percentage of 60.5 percent with 198 yards, one touchdowns and two interceptions.

Of course he is not to blame for the entire team’s struggles, but his play did not help matters.

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Here we are going to see Carr and Williams perfectly execute a goal line stick route. Kansas City’s coverage puts cornerback Kendall Fuller (29) in man-to-man coverage on Williams with no safety over the top to help. Without a safety the middle of the end zone is open, and Williams stick move (outside fake to inside route) puts Fuller in a bad position.

All Carr has to is not let the rush by Jones (95) effect his throw, and put the ball at the perfect height where the defenders can’t affect the throw, yet where Williams still has a chance to make a play. The gunslinger does all of this and it’s six points for the good guys.

Good route, good catch, good throw and good play call; everyone gets to pat themselves on the back on this play.

Unfortunately the play above was not indicative of the rest of the game for the Raiders.

Above is the first interception of the game and head coach Jon Gruden said his call was for a power run. It looks like when Carr points to Williams pre-snap, he is calling an audible for a goal line fade. The problem is, the receiver doesn’t seem to pick up on the signal because he looks for the ball late and doesn’t seem to be running the route at full speed.

Miscommunications are bound to happen early in the year, especially since Carr and Williams haven’t played together for very long. However, there are few things that the quarterback could have to done to avoid this disastrous result.

With the situation at hand; down 18 midway through the 3rd quarter and the offense is having a great drive, Carr should have stuck with the running play that was called. He thought Williams had the matchup advantage, but even if the original play call doesn’t work, the offense can go back to this matchup on second or third down.

Waiting another play or two would have given the offense a chance to ensure everyone was on the same page in the huddle.

With that being said, I can see why Carr called the audible because the Chiefs have eight defenders who can stop a run to the offense’s right, and the Raiders only have six players to block them. However, the audible should have been a run to the left, since that side gave Oakland an advantage with four blockers to take care of Kansas City’s four defenders.

Ultimately this interception is not all Carr’s fault as Williams shoulders a good portion of the blame, but the receiver’s mistakes do not complete absolve the quarterback.

The next play comes from the Silver an Black’s subsequent drive. Again, the side effects of a new receiving core appear.

The Chiefs are giving what’s called a double a-gap look, meaning both linebackers are close to the line of scrimmage and showing a threat to blitz. With this defense, the passing lane for a slant is wider because the linebackers are so close to the line of scrimmage and therefore it’s harder for them to help in coverage.

Carr sees this and changes the play, but Grant isn’t on the same page.

Clearly the quarterback wants to throw the slant, but Tyrann Mathieu (32) plays off coverage on Moreau (87) and that makes the receiver change the intention of his route to a pick or rub route. Since Grant wasn’t looking for the ball, Kansas City is able to take advantage and swing momentum in their favor.

Again this interception isn’t 100 percent on Carr, but there are adjustments he can make to avoid this play.

Unlike the previous interception the audible is the right call here, however, the decision-making can be improved. With Mathieu playing so far off Moreau, the pass needs to go to the tight end and the play probably results in a first down. Granted in order for said first down to stick, the receiver needs to do a better job selling the pick route to avoid the pass interference penalty.

If Grant is looking for the ball, this play is probably an incompletion at worst, but also Carr needs to read the coverage and take what the defense is giving him.