The Las Vegas Raiders underwent a major change this offseason with a new coaching staff and front office coming in. With those changes came a change of philosophy and approach to how the team would operate. It goes without saying that the Raiders team will be looking to its quarterback, Derek Carr, to embrace these changes.
For example, both Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler made it clear that competition would be fueling training camp. Essentially, you let everyone duke it out, and whoever makes the most of the opportunity will get playing time. Tied to the competition aspect is accountability. As many Raiders fans know too well, this would often evade previous teams, especially during low points in the organization’s low points. The team’s new duo, however, isn’t just using this as a punch line. McDaniels is already enforcing the notion of holding everyone accountable, and Carr is no exception.
Derek Carr, accountability, and the Raiders
While speaking with the media recently, Carr was asked about an incident in which he ran a lap after making a mistake during camp. Carr pointed out that being held to a standard will be instrumental in coming more closely together as a team.
“Yeah, just accountability. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, if it happens between two people, hit it. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whose fault it was. Let’s go. It’s an accountability thing. It’s a learning lesson because we can’t beat ourselves. Obviously, yeah, like you said, those things happen, especially early. Young guys, it’s different, but it’s a great opportunity to say, ‘Hey, now let’s work on it. Let’s get better.’ So, just having that attitude. You can have a bad attitude about it, or you can just be like,’ Hey, we got to grow from it and get better.’ I think that’s something that is one of the philosophies around here, is that we’re all in this thing together, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
In a season that’s carrying high expectations, it appears that Carr is all in with this new regime. The fact is, both McDaniels and Ziegler know how to win. They come from a championship pedigree and holding the team accountable for even the slightest mistakes speaks volumes about the shift in team philosophy. It’ll be interesting to see how this continues to develop as camp continues.
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*Top Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
