The Oakland Raiders’ offense is humming this season, and it’s not lost on Washington Redskins cornerback that one of the big reasons for that is Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.

Norman and the Redskins are in the midst of planning on how to contain the Raiders’ offense in the leadup to this Sunday’s meeting between the two teams at FedEx Field. Josh Keim of ESPN managed to speak to Norman this week and mostly heard praises for Carr from Norman, who admits that it’s a daunting task for him and the team to try to jam Oakland’s passing offense.

“He's about timing,” Norman said. “…He's precise at what he does. It's cool to see. He doesn't have any turnovers, and he doesn't make mistakes. So it's more for us as defensive backs to make plays on the ball because he's so methodical and timing-based on how he does things. He's a good quarterback. He really is. We've got our work cut out for us.”

Powered by Carr’s orchestration from the backfield, the Raiders are currently topping in the league in scoring offense (35.5 points per game) and 13th in passing offense (240.0 passing yards per game). Perhaps even more impressive are Carr’s numbers, some of which were noted by Keim.

  • Since entering the NFL in 2014, Carr ranks sixth in touchdown-to-interception ratio, throwing 2.77 scoring passes per interception. His 31 picks over that time are 13th lowest among passers who played 25 or more games.
  • His average air yards per pass attempt of 7.43 ranks 27th in that time among quarterbacks with at least 25 games.
  • Throwing shorter helps keep interceptions down and, indeed, Carr ranks eighth over the past three-plus seasons by throwing an interception on 1.7 percent of his throws. Though his protection has been good, his quick throws do prevent many sacks — he's been sacked on only 3.8 percent of his dropbacks, the lowest since 2014 among active quarterbacks.
  • Carr has thrown particularly short this season, largely because it's been highly effective. In fact, he's unloading the ball in 1.91 seconds.

On the season, Carr has completed 45 of 60 pass attempts for a remarkable 75.0 percent completion clip. He also has thrown five touchdowns. He was outstanding in a 45-20 win over the New York Jets in Week 2 in which he passed for three touchdowns and 230 passing yards on 23 of 28 attempts.

Carr is going to be a big challenge for Norman and the Redskins’ secondary which will have to deal with talented receivers in the form of Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper.