Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs: 5 things we learned

Derek Carr CAN win at Arrowhead Stadium

As much as this was a signature win for the Raiders in 2020, it may very well be the signature win of Derek Carr’s career so far. Carr had some brilliant games over his career, especially in the 12-4 season in 2016 where he had seven fourth quarter comebacks, but this was just as significant given the competition and the location.

For the first time in his career, Derek Carr faced the Chiefs at Arrowhead before December and for the first time in his career, he is flying home with a win. There may still be some doubts about Carr’s ability to play well in cold weather, but the simple fact is that the Chiefs have had better teams than the Raiders have ever since 2014.

Even in 2020 the Chiefs are the defending champs and the Raiders are trying to make the playoffs for the first time 4 years but none of that mattered on Sunday. The defense played well enough, but this win was the Derek Carr show after his early mistake.

Carr looked like the 2016 version of himself as he scrambled around in the pocket to extend plays and took deep shot after deep shot to his weapons for huge, game-changing plays. It is no coincidence that this game was his highest yards per pass attempt of his career at 11.19 and it showed as he dropped bombs all over the second ranked defense in the NFL.

If Carr can play at this level for the rest of the season, then it’s time to take the Raiders seriously as a playoff contender.