Carr takes step back in his fourth season

The touchdown passes and yards are down. The interceptions and sacks are up.

The straight upward trajectory that Derek Carr’s career took for his first three seasons in the NFL hit a speed bump this season, contributing to the Oakland Raiders’ fall from a 12win team to one almost certain to miss the postseason.

But rather than being discouraged by the results, Carr said he will use the lessons from this season to build for the future.

“I use it all to just fuel the fire,” he said Thursday. “There’s been things that I’ve gone through this year that I’ve never been through and I’m learning how to deal with those things and not just deal with them, but execute them at a high level. So, I absolutely, 100 percent believe that going forward, again, this time next year we’re standing here I’ll feel like, man because I trust my work ethic, that I’m a better player this year because of what I went through.”

Carr had few setbacks last season when he led Oakland to seven comeback wins and was one of the most promising QBs in the league, throwing for 3,937 yards and 28 TDs with only six interceptions before a broken leg in the next-to-last game of the year ended his season.

Carr turned that performance into a $125 million, five-year contract in the offseason, but the performance hasn’t matched that level. He’s on pace for his lowest yards per attempt, TD throws and passer rating since his rookie season in 2014.

“The experience he’s getting, he’s definitely growing,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “... Even the very elite quarterbacks of all time weren’t perfect every year. Derek is good football player. We’re going to win a lot of games together here.”