49ers and Raiders fall apart in fourth quarter, will play Thursday night with one win each.
The Raiders held up their end of the Prime Time Matchup from Hell on Sunday afternoon.
Playing at home in front of some remarkably devoted fans, coming off a bye, and desperate for some narrative other than “team teardown,” they crafted another disaster. They coughed up a lead, allowing three fourthquarter touchdowns by the Colts. When the Raiders meet the 49ers on Thursday, the teams will bring a combined 2-13 record to the game, the worst combined winning percentage of a post-Halloween prime time game in NFL history. But you can’t blame Derek Carr for this one. Carr, the quarterback who endured one of the worst weeks of his professional life, did all he
could to get the Raiders a win against Indianapolis. He tried to outduel Andrew Luck. Carr threw three touchdown passes, ran for another, didn’t commit a turnover, completed 21 of 28 passes for 244 yards and was fired up. When he walked up the tunnel after the loss, the pain of the situation was written on his face.
Carr’s performance came on the heels of a bizarre week, during which his best receiver was traded and trade rumors swirled around him. There was also a story that brought out the most despicable macho elements of the NFL, in which anonymous teammates said he had cried during a game and derided him off the record. Carr had to deny the story and other teammates stood up in his defense.
“Yeah, I had to answer some funny questions,” Carr said. “Being honest, as a human, it’s hard. That stuff was just not true and it hurts, as a man not as a football player. I just couldn’t wait to get back on the field and play football.”
Carr won’t say it, but this has become a season from hell for him. Instead of building rejuvenated momentum under his new superstar head coach for a team that was considered a Super Bowl contender just 20 months ago, he has seen his team crumble.
In a no-win situation, Carr has become the collateral damage of the Khalil Mack trade, after which Jon Gruden basically said the team couldn’t pay both, so it chose Carr. The message was, “We’re paying Carr, so we had to trade the best defensive player in the game.” That’s a hell of position to be put in.
Now, apparently, Carr has to prove his leadership and manhood on a weekly basis.
He said that Gruden has asked him to be a more vocal leader, in the absence of Amari Cooper, Mack and now the injured Marshawn Lynch.
“When all our guys used to be here, there were a lot of powerful leaders on this team,” Carr said. “Coach told me, ‘I need you to be more vocal.’ ”
When Carr got onto the field Sunday, after his tough week, he looked good. As good as he had since the last time he played against the Colts. That was on Christmas Eve 2016 in a game that ended for Carr when he broke his leg. The Raiders and Carr really haven’t been the same since that ominous day.
There was only so much that Carr could do Sunday. The Raiders’ offense ran only three plays in the first quarter. The defense kept getting gashed for huge gains. The time of possession was out of whack. After taking a lead in the second quarter and still leading after the third, the team did its customary fourth-quarter collapse.
“I don’t think they ran out of gas — I just think defensively we have to take a long look at who can be out there and help us,” Gruden said. “We’re struggling.” That’s putting it mildly. Gruden seems, at least publicly, not to acknowledge the toll the trades have taken on this team.
“I don’t know where the controversy is coming from,” he said “The reality is we made a trade. I don’t think it hurt the offense and I hope Amari does great.”
But the turmoil continues.
Carr said he has been given assurances that he won’t follow the other two members of what was once the Big Three of the Raiders on to the trade block. He said he was assured that he will be with the team.
“The conversations I’ve had with those guys makes me confident that I’m going to be here,” he said. “I’m an Oakland Raider. I’m a Raider. I’m not going anywhere. I love this place. I want to win a championship for the Raiders.”
Of course, we know how seriously we can take those assurances from the top. You can toss them into a pile with your Oakland Raiders T-shirts and Mack and Cooper jerseys while you watch another lost season and get ready to say goodbye to the Oakland team forever.
“I think (Carr) is the strength of this team and I’m excited about him,” Gruden said.
You get to decide if you believe him.