Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders went into Arrowhead Stadium and came away victorious, silencing the critics with a dominant performance.
Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders have been hearing it all offseason. All the talk about Tom Brady replacing Carr after he decided to leave the New England Patriots, followed by plenty of talk about the Raiders trading up to draft Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert.
Then, when the team signed Marcus Mariota, all the talk was about how he would come in and steal Carr’s job because “he knew how to win at Arrowhead”.
We saw first hand today that when he has a little bit of help from his defense and his weapons, Derek Carr knows how to win at Arrowhead Stadium too. It started off well enough with a confident drive to set up a Daniel Carlson field goal to take a 3-0 lead, but quickly took a nightmarish turn.
On the next Raiders drive after falling behind 7-3, Carr sailed a pass over a wide-open Darren Waller and threw his first interception since his last trip to Kansas City in Week 13 of the 2019 season.
Many Raiders fans were thinking “here we go again,” as Carr has indeed struggled at KC, throwing for nearly twice as many interceptions as touchdowns in his previous six games there and not winning a single game. What is often lost in that conversation is the obvious fact that the Chiefs have just been a better team than the Raiders in every year of Carr’s career.
They have been a Super Bowl contender or in the case of last year’s team, a Super Bowl-winning team while the Raiders have gone through three head coaches and three rebuilds since 2014.
History aside, things were looking bleak for the Raiders as the Chiefs took an 11-point lead after the interception but that dark cloud quickly dissipated. Carr did what he does best and took absolute control of the offense and the game and willed his team back into the game.
Raiders Derek Carr vindicated with big win at Arrowhead Stadium
Carr gets his signature moment
The Raiders scored on three consecutive drives thanks to three touchdown passes from Carr including two absolute dimes to Nelson Agholor for 59 yards and Henry Ruggs III to take the lead with nearly 3 minutes left in the half. The 72-yarder was good enough for the 4th longest of Carr’s career as he was finally able to connect with his speedy rookie.
It was easily the best performance of his career at Arrowhead and there was still a half of football left of play.
The second half was a much tighter affair but Carr lead the Raiders on the drive of the season, a 13-play, 71-yard march down the field that took 8 minutes off the clock and seemed to sap the will of the Chiefs. After a timely interception from Jeff Heath that gave the Raiders a 16-point lead and a quick score from the Chiefs to make it tight, Carr capped off his day with a game-sealing sneak on 4th and 1 to wrap things up.
Derek Carr ended the day going 22-of-31 for 347 yards and three touchdowns with the lone blemish that interception in the first quarter. Carr did this against the second ranked defense in the NFL coming in to the week and did it masterfully, hitting ten different receivers and taking shots down the field and connecting.
This may not have been the best game of Derek Carr’s career statistically, but it was possibly the most significant as it proved that he could indeed beat the Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champs in case you forget, at Arrowhead.
Much credit must go to the defense for holding down the Chiefs for stretches but none of that matters without the masterful play of Derek Carr and the offense. The Raiders now go in to their bye week at 3-2 with the knowledge that if they can beat the defending champs on the road with Carr at the helm, they can beat anyone.