Carr winks to his critics as he aims to become Brees 2.0

The Raiders got everything they wanted out of Derek Carr in Week 1. He was efficient, avoided sacks and interceptions and spread the ball to nine different receivers.

More than that, Carr was at one with coach Jon Gruden, operating as the CEO quarterback and ball distributor the Raiders head coach hasn’t had since Rich Gannon from 1999 through 2001.

In other words, Carr looked at least a little like Drew Brees, and that is no accident.

“We model a lot of what we do as quarterbacks based on what he does,” Carr said Wednesday in a Zoom interview. “He’d rather throw a completion than throw a 40-yard pass for an incompletion. And he has a Super Bowl ring, so he doesn’t care much about it. So I love his game. He keeps the ball moving. He’s efficient. They stay on schedule.”

Brees, meanwhile, looked almost mortal at age 41 in the Saints’ 34-23 season-opening win against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was 18 of 30 for 160 yards. Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes, was sacked once and did not throw an interception.

It was a performance that in Brees’ estimation was “awful,” as the Saints visit the Raiders Monday night in Allegiant Stadium.

It says something about the standard Brees has set when an 11-point win draws such harsh self-criticism, and it’s a level and style of play Carr has aspired to. His remark about Brees taking what he can get in terms of completions at the expense of throwing recklessly downfield was a not-so-thinly veiled jab at the Carr critics who remain convinced he’ll always come up short.