Are Raiders players now second-guessing the team’s direction?

Are Raiders players now second-guessing the team’s direction?

How much more can Raiders QB Derek Carr take?

For all of the criticism that Carr receives from both fans and the media, he’s genuinely been a team player. He’s never been one to throw anyone under the bus, and as outsiders, we can only imagine he saves his constructive criticism for his teammates behind closed doors, as it should be. Even after the loss to the Saints, Carr remained optimistic.

In the face of a historically inept effort, Carr spoke about maintaining a sense of urgency and how that would translate moving forward before the Jaguars game.

"“I like the second word you used – the urgency. The urgency on Wednesday, the urgency on Thursday, the urgency on Friday, and not relaxing on Saturday just because you don’t have to do anything physically. The urgency mentally Saturday, do I really understand what I’m doing on each play? As a quarterback, you go through the whole call sheet. You go through hundreds of plays, and you think about every situation, and that’s how I’ve been trained my whole life.”"

While it’s easy to forget now that we witnessed the Jaguars game, Carr was clearly playing with a sense of urgency. You could see it in his facial expressions; on the sidelines, he was doing everything in his power to make sure his team walked out of Jacksonville with a win.

Despite a 20-10 lead at halftime, the Raiders defense in large part floundered. Now, this isn’t to excuse the offense. McDaniels’ offense failed to capitalize on the stops that the defense handed them; there weren’t many, but the ones they got were fruitless.

Following the game, Carr appeared frustrated and dejected, almost as if he were on the verge of giving up. No, I’m not a mind reader, but body language is sometimes pretty obvious. His words only added to the speculation, which, combined with the fact that the feed to the press conference was abruptly cut, has led to some conspiratorial theories.

However, let’s stick to what was actually said by Carr.

"“There’s a lot I want to say, but if I’m honest, I don’t need to need to say it here. There’s things that will be said and things that need to be addressed.”"

Frustration over the bumbling defense is likely starting to settle in. You have to wonder what exactly is going on now behind closed doors. As far as Carr’s partner in crime, so to speak, was concerned, he didn’t hold back on his assessment regarding Sunday.