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Following a promising 2016 season, the Oakland Raiders took a considerable step back this past campaign falling out of the playoffs entirely.
Much of that came with some notable drop off in the play of Pro Bowl quarterback Derek Carr. In light of that, the 26-year-old recently revealed that the back injury that he suffered early in the regular season impacted his performance on the field, according to Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Article Continues Below“I had to deal with it,” Carr said. “I had to do certain things to manage it, but I just didn’t talk about it. I didn’t want it to be an excuse. It was a want more than anything else. I didn’t want it to be a reason. I couldn’t let that be a reason why I couldn’t do A, B or C.”
The injury in question occurred in Week 4 that saw him suffer three transverse process fractures in his back that forced him to miss a week of the season. Carr was able to play through it after that, but the fact that it continued to bother him from that point did show to have a sizable impact on his play on the field.
He experienced a significant uptick in his interceptions from six to 13 while his completion percentage also dropped in the process. Meanwhile, there was a dip in his touchdown passes from 28 to 22 while his quarterback rating went from 96.7 to 86.4. Carr may not have wanted to use it as an excuse, but it was clearly something that affected the way that he performed.
With a full offseason to recover fully from the injury, Carr could bounce back in a huge way in his first season under new head coach Jon Gruden. If the Raiders hope to make a serious playoff push in 2018, it will require him to return to the form he played two years ago where he was a legitimate MVP candidate and one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
