Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said that he doesn’t care about what others say about him and is now focused on winning. However, criticism regarding how he performs won’t go away until he starts winning on a constant basis.
Not long ago, Carr talked about how he doesn’t care anymore about what others think of him. More recently, he double down on his original comment when he sat down with Vic Tafur of the Athletic:
Talking to Tafur, Carr said, “I just don’t care now what anybody says. I care about what Gruden tells me and what he writes down on my grade sheet. And then I look at that grade and ask myself if I was a reason that my team won or a reason that my team lost. And I make sure that over the course of time, my grades are saying that this guy helped us win. But it’s taken me a while, as much as I love people, to get to this point.”
Related: Raiders 2020 Draft Class Gets Less Than Stellar Grade
Not The First Time…
This is the second time Carr has said in some form or another that he has no time to pay attention to what others think of him and he’s stopped trying to please everyone. If that’s the case, he should really stop talking about it because people that work hard don’t waste time constantly updating others on how much they’ve gotten done. The reason for that, is that they’re too busy actually working and thus, they won’t spend their precious time on activities that will distract them from achieving their goals.
Derek Carr and Twitter
Later on in their conversation, Carr said, “If anyone is negative to me now on Twitter, I block them out of my life. If you have something like that to say to me, I have no time for you. And what people get misunderstood is that they will then say that I can’t take the criticism. But it has nothing to do with that. I have one goal and that is to win the Raiders a championship, multiple championships and your negativity isn’t helping me. I don’t want to waste one second on that negativity when I am trying to win a Super Bowl, if that makes sense.”
Again, it’s normal to share future objectives and common goals, but successful people get things done. Moreover, Carr says that he blocks negativity and that’s alright. It is unhealthy to focus on hurtful things others say. However, it’s unrealistic to block the noise and negative feedback. If anything, the noise will get louder and the pressure will build up the closer, not the other way around, he gets to the proverbial top. If the quarterback wants to thrive, he will have to do so surrounded by criticism, fair or not.
Derek Carr: Focus On My Good Plays
At one point, Carr mentions it used to bother him when people focus on his bad plays instead of the good ones, “it used to. It really used to. I am not going to lie to you. It was like, what else do they want? It’s been a while, no offense, that we have had a quarterback that’s been able to stick around here.”
Gary Anderson is one of the best kickers in NFL history, but he’s mostly remembered for the one important kick he missed which denied the Vikings the chance to advance to the Super Bowl. Scott Norwood knows that feeling very well. The moment their respective teams needed them they failed to delivered. Mike Jones is considered a Super Bowl hero when he stopped Kevin Dyson when it mattered the most. Even though Jones had an average career, he is fondly remembered because he filled the calling while Dyson is the goat for not being able to deliver for his team. That’s the way it works, deliver and you get the glory. Fail and people will shove it in your face. High performance athletes should win games when the stakes are higher, that’s why they get that kind of treatment.
Carr can continue talking about how he’s a changed man on the football field. However, in the end, there’s only one way he silences his critics, and that’s by winning meaningful games.
You May Also Like: Former Raiders WR Randy Moss still angers fans
Thearon W. Anderson/Getty Images
