Gruden on Carr: ‘He’s on a mission right now’
Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden harped about surrounding Derek Carr with much-needed weapons.
What he and general manager Mike Mayock did was bring in tight end Darren Waller off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens in December 2018.
In the draft, the Raiders selected Josh Jacobs and Hunter Renfrow in 2019, and Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards earlier this year.
In the offseason, the Raiders signed wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who’s excelling this season.
Gruden couldn’t be happier of how Carr is doing this season.
“He’s all business,” Gruden said Wednesday. “He’s on a mission right now to prove that he can be one of the top, if not the best, in football. That’s what he’s after.”
In nine games this season, Carr completed 196 of 283 for 2,156 yards and 16 touchdowns with just two interceptions. He’s also rushed 27 times for 118 yards in helping the Raiders to a 6-3 record.
The Raiders will host the Kansas City Chiefs (81) in a prime-time game Sunday.
Two weeks ago, Renfrow benefited off Carr’s quick thinking against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Carr was pressured and escaped by scrambling and saw Renfrow running. Carr motioned Renfrow to keep going, then fired a pass for a season-long 53yard reception in a 31-26 win over their AFC West rivals.
“Derek is one of the best to realize what the defense is coming at him with and getting us to the right play,” Renfrow said.
Carr said he watched plenty of times when former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning took command of a game and “it’s a cool feeling for me to be able to do that kind of stuff as well at this point in my career.
“I get more joy out of that sometimes than some
of the touchdowns,” Carr said. “I’ll come to the sideline and start getting fired up with (offensive line) coach (Tom) Cable about it, and so I’m just here to do my job at the highest level I can and I’m planning on doing that all the time at a very high level. And I hold myself to a standard sometimes that it’s hard to achieve but when you do achieve it, you know you’re on the right track.”
Gruden kept showing praise towards Carr and didn’t hold back.
“I think he’s on a mission to deliver his leadership, his play-making and his day-to-day consistency to this team,” he said. “If you could see him here every day in these circumstances, you’d all be impressed with what he represents. I couldn’t be happier having him as my quarterback.”