For the past six seasons, few corners have been better than Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis. And over those six seasons, only once has a quarterback performed better against him than Raiders rookie Derek Carr did last night.
Associated Press stats guru Josh Dubow noted that Carr completed 5 of 6 passes when targeting Revis' receiver. And according to Pro Football Focus, hat figure is tied for the second most completions against the 'shutdown corner' in the past six seasons.
The guy who had more completions against Revis? Ryan Fitzpatrick -- who threw a couple TD passes in a route of the Raiders last week with the Texans and ed a game winning drive against the Raiders last season with the Titans -- had nine completions against Revis in week 12 of the 2011 season while with the Buffalo Bills.
Carr showed great improvement in his pocket presence in this game, consistently feeling pressure, stepping up in the pocket, and going through his reads. He may not have been going after Revis' man as his first read but if that's where his progressions took him, so be it.
Three of those completions were to James Jones for a total of 43 yards. Two of those catches went for first downs (18, 12), the third went for 13 yards on third and 15 to set up a Sebastian Janikowski 47-yard field goal.
Overall Carr went 21 of 34 (62%) for 174 yards. He had the interception at the end off the dropped/tipped ball by Denarius Moore.
Call it a 'silver lining' in a loss if you like. But this team is all about building for the future and Carr could be a big part of that. Especially if he keeps building on games like this.
Loading comments...