Can Carr break Arrowhead curse?
ALAMEDA >> We’ve seen a lot of growth in the second year of the union between Derek Carr and Jon Gruden.
Now comes the next step, and for Carr — especially — it’s a big one.
Arrowhead Stadium is the most hostile of environments for Carr. His record there is 0-5, his stats are awful and not once has he passed the eye test of being a solid, functional NFL quarterback.
When the Raiders (6-5) visit the Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) Sunday afternoon, Carr might not win, but he needs to keep
the Raiders in the fight by being a leader, avoiding turnovers and looking like the player who has both a system and a team within his control.
You can’t be the quarterback of the Raiders by continuing to flounder at the road venue of your longstanding AFC West rival.
A review of Carr’s Arrowhead misery:
• Dec. 14, 2015: Carr is 27 of 56 for 222 yards and one touchdown. The Raiders lose 31-13.
• Jan. 1, 2016: Carr is 21 of 33 for 1091 yards, one touchdown, one interception. The Raiders lose 23-17.
• Dec. 8, 2016: Carr is 17 of 41 for 117 yards and no touchdowns. The Raiders lose 21-13.
• Dec. 10, 2017: Carr is 24 of 41 for 211 yards and one touchdown, two interceptions. The Raiders lose 26-15.
• Dec. 30, 2018: Carr is 24 of 33 for 211 yards, 185 yards and two interceptions. The Raiders lose 35-3.
Summary: Carr has completed 113 of 204 passes (55.4 percent) for 926 yards, three touchdowns and five intercep
tions. The Raiders have averaged just more than 12 points per game, but three of those games were at least competitive enough that a top flight quarterback could have pulled out a win or two.
Carr has often been a top-flight quarterback. Just not at Arrowhead. Carr’s passer rating in those games is 61.4. As a point of reference, the career passer rating of JaMarcus Russell is 65.2.
There have been extenuating circumstances, not the least of which is the Chiefs usually go in with superior talent, and that the game has always taken place after Dec. 1. That means on a good day the temperature might hit 45 degrees with a cold breeze. On a bad day, it’s closer to zero with bonechilling winds. Carr’s struggles in cold weather
are well known and he has heard plenty about it. It was no accident that he took the practice field Thursday in a sleeveless jersey for the coldest practice session of the season. But let’s face it, many of those have been road games playing quarterback for a marginal team that was bound to struggle anyway. It’s also not a huge sample size (0-4 at 40 degrees or below 2-8 at 50 degrees or below) for a quarterback with 89 career starts.
Mt. Everest when it comes to Carr isn’t the weather. It’s Arrowhead Stadium.
The last time the Raiders visited Kansas City as division contenders, in 2016, they were 10-2 and the Chiefs were 9-3. It was 21 degrees with a wind chill of 12. Carr had broken the pinkie finger on his throwing hand two weeks earlier against Carolina. He had returned to that game — a victory — and led another win the
following week despite being unable to take direct snaps from center.
Against the Chiefs,
Carr never completed a pass of longer than 18 yards with no legitimate completions downfield. With the Raiders trailing 21-13 with more than nine minutes left, Amari Cooper broke into the clear and rivalry mythology has it that Carr’s downfield throw hit a “SpiderCam” wire. The ball fluttered harmlessly to the turf as if shot by a sniper.
So Carr’s difficulties at Arrowhead aren’t just problematic, they’re just plain weird.
Chiefs quarterback
Alex Smith, meanwhile, was 17 of 26 for 264 yards, one touchdown and five completions of 28 or more yards despite a reputation of being a cautious downfield thrower.
Raiders fans have run hot and cold on Carr the past two seasons, a byproduct of having inferior talent and a 10-22 record.
No. 17 Memphis 34, No. 18 Cincinnati 24 No. 19 Iowa 27, Nebraska 24
No. 20 Boise State 31, Colorado State 24 No. 22 Appalachian State at Troy, 3 p.m. Virginia 39, No. 23 Virginia Tech 30
FAR WEST
Washington 31, Washington St. 13
Saturday, Nov. 30
No. 1 LSU vs. Texas A&M, 4 p.m.
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 10 Michigan, 9 a.m.
No. 3 Clemson at South Carolina, 9 a.m. No. 4 Georgia at Georgia Tech, 9 a.m.
No. 5 Alabama at No. 16 Auburn, 12:30 p.m.
No. 6 Utah vs. Colorado, 4:30 p.m.
No. 7 Oklahoma at No. 21 Oklahoma State, 5 p.m.
No. 8 Florida vs. Florida State, 4:30 p.m. No. 9 Minnesota vs. No. 13 Wisconsin, 12:30 p.m.
No. 11 Baylor at Kansas, 12:30 p.m.
No. 12 Penn State vs. Rutgers, 12:30 p.m. No. 14 Oregon vs. Oregon State, 1 p.m. No. 15 Notre Dame at Stanford, 1 p.m. No. 24 Navy at Houston, 4 p.m.
L.A. Lakers L.A. Clippers Phoenix Sacramento Warriors
SOUTHWEST DIVISION
Houston Dallas
New Orleans San Antonio Memphis
NORTHWEST DIVISION
16 14 8 7 4 12 11 6 6 5 13 13 12 10 4 2 5 9 10 15 6 6 12 13 12 4 5 6 9 14 .889 .737 .471 .412 .211 .667 .647 .333 .316 .294 .765 .722 .667 .526 .222
— 21⁄2 71⁄2 81⁄2 121⁄2
— 1⁄2 6 61⁄2 61⁄2
— 1⁄2 11⁄2
4 91⁄2
1. Oregon (6-0) beat UT Arlington 91-54.
2. Baylor (7-0) beat No. 17 Indiana 77-62.
3. Stanford (6-0) vs. No. 18 Syracuse.
4. UConn (6-0) did not play.
5. South Carolina (6-1) vs. Washington State.
6. Texas A&M (5-0) did not play.
7. Oregon State (6-0) beat No. 19 Miami 75-53.
8. Louisville (7-0) beat Oklahoma State 69-48.
9. Maryland (6-1) beat Clemson 63-44. Next: vs. Belmont, Saturday.
10. Mississippi State (7-0) vs. Bowling Green.
11. UCLA (5-0) did not play.
12. Florida State (6-0) did not play.
12. N.C. State (5-0) vs. Texas.
14. Kentucky (6-0) did not play.
15. Michigan State (5-1) lost to LSU 58-56.
16. DePaul (5-1) did not play. Next: at Northwestern, Sunday.
17. Indiana (5-1) lost to No. 2 Baylor 77-62.
18. Syracuse (4-1) vs. No. 3 Stanford.
19. Miami (4-2) lost to No. 7 Oregon State 75-53.
20. Tennessee (6-0) did not play.
21. South Florida (5-3) lost to Florida Gulf Coast 81-77.
22. Gonzaga (4-1) beat Dayton 76-65.
23. West Virginia (5-1) beat New Mexico 73-60.
24. Arizona (7-0) beat UC Riverside 70-27.
25. Arkansas (6-1) beat Fordham 71-59.
FAR WEST
Abilene Christian 76, Portland 69 Arizona 70, UC Riverside 27
Arizona St. 57, Maine 31
CS Bakersfield 75, San Jose St. 71 California 90, NC Central 69
Denver 83, UC Irvine 75
Georgia St. 59, New Mexico St. 51 Gonzaga 76, Dayton 65
Houston 96, California Baptist 75 Marquette 77, Saint Mary's (Cal) 63 Nevada 80, Chicago St. 60
Old Dominion 61, Cal Poly 55
Oregon 91, Texas-Arlington 54 Pepperdine 79, Cal State Los Angeles 56 San Diego 57, Monmouth (NJ) 49
San Francisco 64, Bowling Green 56 Washington 75, Howard 58
Yale 87, Fresno St. 67
Edmonton Arizona Sharks Vancouver Vegas Calgary Anaheim Los Angeles
CENTRAL DIVISION
St. Louis Winnipeg Colorado Dallas Nashville Minnesota Chicago
Boston Florida Buffalo Toronto Tampa Bay Montreal Ottawa Detroit 27 26 27 26 27 28 27 26
GP W
26 26 25 26 24 26 25 26 25 26 27 23 25 26 28 16 15 14 12 12 12 11 10 15 16 15 15 11 11 10 18 12 12 12 12 11 11 7
GP W
8 8 12 10 11 12 12 14 5 9 8 9 9 11 10 3 8 10 11 8 9 14 18
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
3 3 1 4 4 4 4 2 6 1 2 2 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 3 5 1 3 35 33 29 28 28 28 26 22 36 33 32 32 26 26 25 41 29 28 28 27 27 23 17
L OT Pts
86 75 78 85 81 70 71 68 78 76 90 72 84 76 71 96 91 77 91 86 85 68 60 77 61 89 79 80 85 82 88 72 74 72 62 82 84 74 64 93 80 91 76 89 81 110
GF GA
at Indiana at J Madison at Buffalo at Georgetown So. Dakota at RICHMOND E.Tennessee St. at B GREEN Evansville at La Tech Belmont at C. Michigan at Ga. Southern at Arkansas Fresno St. at Ohio at Toledo at Cincinnati at Umkc at Vanderbilt at G. Canyon at Montana St. at Colorado at Seattle U at UC Irvine SE.Missouri at Santa Clara
Saturday
Favorite
at New Jersey at Montreal at Toronto at Tampa Bay at Detroit at Florida at NY Islanders at Calgary at Arizona at St. Louis at Colorado at Edmonton at Los Angeles
Sunday
Favorite
161⁄2 31⁄2
8
81⁄2 61⁄2 off
4 off 21⁄2 101⁄2 91⁄2 71⁄2 131⁄2 161⁄2 61⁄2 91⁄2 13 111⁄2 61⁄2
4
61⁄2
5 181⁄2 121⁄2 9 off off
So. Dakota State
E. Carolina William & Mary NC Greensboro
at N. Arizona Boston College
at Ualr Dartmouth
at Iupui Samford at Mid. Tennessee Youngstown St. North Dakota
N. Kentucky at CS.Northridge
Detroit Oakland
UNLV W. Illinois Tulsa Ipfw Green Bay Sacramento St.
Idaho E. Michigan
Denver Cal St.-Fullerton -133/+123 -134/+124 -234/+214 Off
Off
Off
Off
Off
Off
Off
Off -133/+123 Off
NY Rangers Philadelphia
Buffalo Carolina Washington Nashville Columbus Ottawa San Jose Pittsburgh
Chicago Vancouver
Winnipeg
Georgia 28 (461⁄2)at Georgia Tech at Temple 27 (49) UConn Tulsa 51⁄2 (61) at E. Carolina at Pittsburgh 81⁄2 (511⁄2) B. College at Tennessee 23 (451⁄2) Vanderbilt Wake Forest 31⁄2 (691⁄2) at Syracuse at Co. Carolina 7 (531⁄2) Texas State Iowa St. 51⁄2 (441⁄2) at Kansas St. North Carolina 11 (56) at NC State at Marshall 71⁄2 (481⁄2) FIU Navy 81⁄2 (58) at Houston Baylor 14 (481⁄2) at Kansas Ohio State 8 (491⁄2) at Michigan Clemson 27 (51) at So. Carolina Wisconsin 21⁄2 (45) at Minnesota at Penn St. 391⁄2 (501⁄2) Rutgers at Liberty 14 (651⁄2) New Mexico St. at Utah 28 (481⁄2) Colorado Charlotte 91⁄2 (50) at Old Dominion at W.Kentucky 81⁄2 (461⁄2) M. Tennessee at Air Force 11 (411⁄2) Wyoming Fresno St. 21⁄2 (61) at San Jose St. Rice 61⁄2 (431⁄2) at UTEP at Nevada 7 (511⁄2) UNLV Indiana 7 (57) at Purdue at LSU 17 (641⁄2) Texas A&M at Kentucky 3 (521⁄2) Louisville Alabama 31⁄2 (491⁄2) at Auburn at La.-Lafayette 191⁄2 (691⁄2) La.-Monroe at Ga. Southern 7 (57) Georgia St. at Illinois 71⁄2 (41) N'western at Michigan St. 221⁄2 (471⁄2) Maryland Oklahoma 131⁄2 (69) at Okla. St. at La Tech 21 (571⁄2) UTSA at FAU 81⁄2 (551⁄2)Southern Miss at SMU 31⁄2 (71) Tulane at UCLA 1 (501⁄2) California Notre Dame 161⁄2 (461⁄2) at Stanford at Arizona St. 131⁄2 (591⁄2) Arizona UAB 3 (491⁄2) at North Texas Utah St. 11 (631⁄2) at New Mexico Miami 9 (441⁄2) at Duke at Florida 171⁄2 (541⁄2) Florida St. BYU 5 (38) at San Diego St. at Oregon 20 (651⁄2) Oregon St. at Hawaii 3 (541⁄2) Army