Derek Carr may need to out-Tom Brady Tom Brady for Raiders to take down Patriots

Oakland Raiders safety Reggie Nelson was honest as can be to Vic Tafur of the Athletic about where his team is right now. Every game is a playoff game to the Raiders and the first one will be against defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

Not that they could stop Patriots quarterback Tom Brady anyway but the Raiders are still hurting in the secondary. First-round pick Gareon Conley is now on injured reserve and no one knows for sure if No. 1 cornerback David Amerson will play yet. So this is a game that Raiders QB Derek Carr has to out-Tom Brady Tom Brady.

To out-Tom Brady Tom Brady doesn’t just mean to throw for a ton of yards and touchdowns. It means at the end of this likely shootout, he could have to pull it out in the fourth quarter.

Brady is second all time to Peyton Manning with 40 fourth-quarter comebacks and 51 game-winning drives in his 18th year. Carr, in his fourth NFL season has become known as a comeback kid with 13 fourth-quarter comebacks and 13 game-winning drives in his fourth year.

As a rookie in 2014, Carr almost took down Brady in New England and it wasn’t Carr’s fault it didn’t happen. Down 16-9 with less than a minute remaining the game, Carr had the Raiders in the red zone but a short pass bounced off receiver Denarius Moore and into the hands of Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork for the game sealing interception.

Carr is bringing three years of growth along with a fully loaded offense to this contest. And the offense is starting to resemble that explosive unit that led the team to a 12-4 record in 2016. Plus the Patriots have a pass defense that’s worse than the Raiders’ at No. 32 in the NFL.

Sunday’s game against the Patriots will be one of if not the biggest game of Carr’s career. But, like Brady, he lives for these moments and excels in them. These two high powered offenses and struggling defenses make for one of the more exciting games of this season. It could come down to who has the ball last. And if that is Derek Carr he has shown the ability to out-Tom Brady Tom Brady.