What? What is this....
Derek Carr: "The thing that we are trying to hide and stay away from, is really the pats on the back. Tell me what I did wrong. Tell me what I can do better." In that vain, #Raiders have failed to score on 8 straight opening drives, tied w/ #49ers for 2nd longest active drought
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) September 23, 2021
This is, by far, the preferred philosophy that I want to see from Derek and those that follow him. If Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have detractors ( in their own organizations, no less)....guess what....everyone has detractors. Deal with it. Don't whine about criticism to the media, don't challenge media members to MMA sanctioned fights, don't moan about your peers not voting you onto the NFL top 100 players list, etc. That's not the way. The way is to be mature, embrace the criticism, and get better. That's a Raider. Hell, that's real life.
From here, though, I suppose I have to wonder if Derek's fanboys will follow his lead and stop whining about anything that they perceive as criticism. I feel like Derek dropping the spoiled, little brother act could even inspire certain ranks within this fan base to become tougher. Perhaps some will even relinquish the embarrassment that comes with stalking guys like Josh Dubow and looking to have some sort of battle on a daily basis....
Anyway, Derek - potentially - maturing into a real leader could be the most impactful development this season, and his newfound philosophy is going to be the necessary directive as soon as next week's Monday Night matchup with the Bolts - when Peyton and Eli are critiquing his play at the position again.
So with all of that goodness in mind - I have another criticism - can we get rolling in the red zone? Sure, the Steelers and Ravens are respectable outfits on the defensive side of the ball, but those are exactly the sort of teams that we would see in the playoffs. Certainly not going to overreact to any rankings after 2 games, but given the red zone struggles that occurred last season - you'd like to see early season progress in a previous weak spot and the team starting off in the bottom third of the league just catches the eye. So a quick and simple - " let's clean it up and get rolling here " is in order....we have way too many weapons for this to happen again inside the 20 yard line.
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