Derek Carr says Joey Bosa tried to ‘piss me off’ ... and he did

Clearly, Joey Bosa’s harsh criticism of Raiders quarterback Derek Carr after the Los Angeles Chargers harassed him in a win on Monday night has reached Las Vegas.

For anyone who missed it, the Chargers linebacker said that L.A. “shook” Carr during Monday’s game in SoFi Stadium, and that he “shuts down” when hit often. Mild-mannered Carr responded this week by saying that Bosa’s words upset him: “I think he was trying to piss me off and he did, so good job on that,” he Raiders’ QB told reporters on Wednesday.

Carr went on to say this about Bosa:

“I love Joey. He knows that. We’ve gone back and forth ... talking crap ... He’s entitled to his opinion. It’s almost like he watched the game in reverse (Carr improved as the game went on) ... We’ll see them again.”

This is what Bosa said after the Chargers sacked Carr four times and hit him seven times in a 28-14 Los Angeles win Monday night:

“We knew once we hit him a few times, he really gets shook,” Bosa said. “And you saw on [Christian Covington’s] sack, he was pretty much curling into a ball before we even got back there. Great dude, great player ... but we know once you get pressure on him, he kind of shuts down.”

Later in Carr’s press session on Wednesday, he referenced a big block that Raiders’ rookie right tackle Alex Leatherwood put on Bosa, without mentioning the defensive end by name. Carr also said he has had “so many” teammates come up to him to express their anger about Bosa’s comments. Carr said “they’re mad for me ... I told them ‘bro, don’t be mad for me.’“

On Tuesday, Raiders coach Jon Gruden didn’t appear thrilled with Bosa’s comments and said “we love our quarterback.”

Let’s all circle Jan. 9 in Las Vegas on our calendars, when these two teams meet in the final game of the regular-season.