Raiders, Carr bumble, stumble in blowout loss
ATLANTA — Deion Jones took off the other way, raising the ball in the air long before he got to the end zone.
Derek Carr watched the pick-six unfold from his knees, slamming the turf in disgust after another dreadful mistake.
It was the best of days for Jones and the Atlanta Falcons. It couldn’t get much worse for Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jones returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown, Matt Ryan threw a pair of short scoring passes, and the Falcons thoroughly dominated Carr and the bumbling Raiders 43-6 on Sunday.
Las Vegas (6-5) looked very much like a pretender in the AFC playoff race with its second consecutive loss, a listless, mistakefilled performance against an Atlanta team that’s playing out the season under an interim coach.
The Falcons (4-7) forced five turnovers — four by Carr — and earned their most lopsided victory since a 56-14 rout of Tampa Bay in 2014.
“The guys needed a little bit of what I call a push in the head,” said Atlanta interim coach Raheem Morris, who improved to 4-2 since taking over for the fired Dan Quinn. “If you can get the guys to believe in themselves, believe in what they can do, those things usually work out in your favor.”
The Raiders took their worst loss of Jon Gruden’s most recent three seasons as coach.
“I apologize to the Raider nation and really compliment the Falcons,” Gruden said. “They played a hell of a football game, and we did not.”
Carr fumbled the ball away three times in addition to throwing the interception that Jones returned for his fifth career touchdown. Nathan Peterman finished out the game at quarterback while Carr watched from the bench with a pained look.
“When you turn the ball over like that, you’re not going to win many games,” Carr said. “It’s a gut punch for sure.”
Las Vegas also was f lagged 11 times for 141 yards. A facemask penalty wiped out an interception. A roughing-the-kicker call allowed Atlanta to keep the ball after a missed field-goal try — and the Falcons wound up scoring the game’s first touchdown.