Some love him, some bash him unsparingly, but regardless of where you stand, there is no doubt quarterback is controversial amongst fans. Ever since the Las Vegas Raiders signal-caller signed a five-year $125 million contract, strong opinions about him have come his way.
Some blame Carr for failing to field a decent offense on a consistent basis. Others praise him for putting good individual numbers up despite a dearth of talent in the team. When it comes to the Raiders quarterback, there is no common ground. It’s funny because those that try to inject some objectiveness into the debate will be asked to leave the discussion.
In Derek Carr’s defense…
Recently, Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. of SI Maven opined that Carr’s disrespect is borderline ridiculous. He argues that the quarterback had one of his best statistical seasons in 2019 in spite of not having a good supporting cast. He cites Carr’s 4,054 passing yards and his 7.9 yards per attempt last season. While the latter figure ranked ninth in the league, Carpenter didn’t mention the Raiders were trailing more often than not last year and most of those yards were akin to empty calories. Also, a 4,000-yard season doesn’t carry as much cachet as it did 30 years ago. In 2019, 11 quarterbacks reached the milestone. Back in 1990, only Warren Moon did it. Nowadays, finishing the year with 4,000+ yards is the same as throwing for 2,500 back in the day.
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Why isn’t Derek Carr laughing?
Carr himself should be having plenty of fun looking at how much debate he generates. Instead, he gets in it with fans, he will talk about how he doesn’t care about pleasing others. Even his siblings will join conversations about their brother Derek. They will go into petty rants about how a video game doesn’t grade him correctly. They will not stand for anyone who dares to question them.
Carr is in their eyes, the quarterback everyone should strive to become. Even Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes has had support. They believe the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was part of the perfect storm. He had the head coach, the weapons and a good defense. On the contrary, Raiders coaches, wide receivers and defenses have failed him. They strongly think Carr is a victim of the team’s failures and not the other way around.
Of course, there are limits…
When talking about Carr, fans need to focus only in his professional performance, his family, his political affiliations and his religious beliefs are simply off. I myself have watched some of the videos in which he quotes some verses from the Christian Bible. I sincerely enjoyed them, but I guess some people can’t separate the player from the person. Either way, he shouldn’t be paying attention his critics.
In the public eye, there’s only one thing Carr can do and that is winning the Super Bowl. Him or his contingent shouldn’t be worried about what rating he gets on a video game. There should be only one thing when he’s on the football field and everybody knows what it is… Just Win, Baby.
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Top Photo: Peter Aiken/Getty Images
