Derek Carr eased some major concerns in Raiders close loss to Broncos

but questions remain Week one http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-marcus-gilchrist-jersey for the Raiders, Derek Carr caught a lot of heat. Both from the fans and his coaches. They wanted him to stand tall in the pocket, be aggressive, look downfield, and find his number one receiver. He did many of those things. But more is needed.That’s not to say Carr lit it up Sunday in Denver. Scoring 19 points in a loss isn’t exactly a sign of an elite day. But what Carr did was check off many of the boxes he was asked to in what had to be a frustrating week after such a miserable second half against the Rams in the opener.The most pressing concern was Carr panicking in the pocket. After being sacked by Michael Brockers last week in the third quarter, Carr collapsed and began making erratic decisions that led to stalled drives and turnovers. In this game, he was sacked twice early by Von Miller (one was wiped out by a penalty) and Carr showed no overt signs the pressure had gotten to him, leading the Raiders to 16 of their 19 points after those sacks. And he didn’t turn the ball over.Carr threw three interceptions in the opener without a touchdown pass. He got on the board against the Broncos in the third quarter with a laser to Seth Roberts. That pass was easily his best of the season. It was a perfect strike over the middle in traffic for the score.Equally important to the pass itself, was the timing of it. In the second half last week, the Rams came out and scored on their opening drive with a field goal and ran off 23 unanswered points. The Broncos did one better in their opening drive of the second half, going for a touchdown. But this time, Derek Carr and the Raiders offense answered with a touchdown drive of their own. The Raiders need to see more of that. They need a lot more of that.The longest completion last week went for 43 yards on the opening drive, but most of that was yards after the catch by Jared Cook. And every pass over 20 yards went to Cook. He was the only part of the offense that was consistently working. And even then, two of the three interceptions were on passes intended for him.This week, the four longest passes were to wide receivers Amari Cooper (30 Tahir Whitehead Jersey , 20), Jordy Nelson (23) and Seth Roberts (20T). With Cook catching a couple 20-yard passes too. So, he was still in the game plan, but it wasn’t just him.Coop would see 10 passes from Carr, after seeing just 3 against the Rams. He caught all ten passes his way for 116 yards. That’s quite a turnaround from the 9 yards he had on one catch in the opener.Carr had fewer yards passing in this one (288) than the opener (303), but more yards that actually mattered. He also completed 29 of 32 of his passes, which is an astounding 90.6 completion percentage. That’s the fourth best single-game completion percentage in NFL history.What’s kind of crazy here is how he can have 29 completions and not even crack 300 yards. He didn’t even average 10 yards per completion. His longest completion (30 yards) was to a wide open Amari Cooper. So, the questions about him pushing the ball down the field and being more aggressive remain.Some of that is him checking down and some of it is the game plan which was designed for him to throw quickly to keep pressure off of him. It’s easy for his coaches to tell him to be more aggressive, but it’s more difficult when he is called upon to keep throwing the short stuff. All he can do then is try to be efficient.These stats and such only serve to ease some of concerns that built up this past week with regard to Carr’s ability to run the Raiders’ offense. This isn’t some moral victory. Though when you listen to Carr speak, it sure sounds like he thinks it is. Which in and of itself is concerning. “It’s hard for me to believe that they didn’t like [Jon Gruden’s] offense last week. That’s kind of funny to me,” said Carr. “We had well over 300 yards, we had near a hundred or over a hundred yards rushing. I think you’d take that every week, against that defense, right? And this week we moved the ball well, again against a defense鈥veryone just said you moved the ball Youth Derek Carr Jersey , no we did some good things against a defense that doesn’t allow anything. So, I think we’re doing just fine.”It’s one thing for me to sit here and say there are signs that he and the offense are beginning to click. It’s entirely another for Derek Carr to be in any way satisfied with how the offense has performed in two games in which they have scored a total of seven points in the second half. He should not be the least bit satisfied with that, regardless of how good the defense he’s facing supposedly is.I get that Derek Carr is a ‘look at the bright side’ type of guy. But if you didn’t know better, you’d think the Raiders offense has been racking up points only to have the defense blow it. He did none of that. The Raiders lost 20-19. He had just one touchdown pass and the offense didn’t score in the fourth quarter. That’s not going to get it done. I can’t imagine he thinks he did his part to ensure victory, even with the numbers he had.There’s more he can do. His performance in this game merely showed that perhaps he will. And I have no doubt that even with his flowery outlook, he will not rest on his laurels here.Follow @LeviDamien On a team like this, it can be hard to find positives. Many of the awards end up being the lesser of the evils. But that’s just where we are. Even the lesser of the evils deserve credit for not being as terrible as everyone else.Rookie of the midseasonMaurice HurstThere also hasn’t been a lot of competition for this slot. Hurst hasn’t been able to make a huge impact for the Raiders’ defense, but he’s been a steady presence who, should he get some help from the outside pass rush at some point, could make and impact in future seasons. He leads the current roster with 2.0 sacks along with 17 tackles and has batted down 3 passes at the line.Top newcomerDaryl WorleyThough he’s only played four games, he’s shown himself to be the best defensive back on the team. He’s aggressive, both in coverage and as a tackler. He has one interception and four passes defended in those four games.Breakout playerGareon ConleyBasically a rookie because he missed all but two games his rookie season with a shin injury. The team needed him to be healthy this season and start at one of the cornerback spots. He needs to work on his tackling, but his coverage has been good. He has certainly stepped up to be the starting cornerback they need him to be.Most disappointing additionOffense: Martavis BryantDefense: Tahir WhiteheadThere were a few candidates for this one. Especially if you include coaches (which I didn’t). Some who didn’t make the cut, but could have include Jordy Nelson who hasn’t been the upgrade over Michael Crabtree he was supposed to be. Rashaan Melvin for giving up big plays and then getting benched. Or Derrick Johnson who was benched and then released; though anyone who expected much from a 36-year-old was fooling themselves. Gruden sent a third round pick to the Steelers for Bryant only to cut him before the season and then re-sign him. He was supposed to be the piece to this receiving corps that would make it among the better units in football. He’s done next to nothing. He wasn’t even named the starter after Amari Cooper was traded away.Most expected Whitehead to be the team’s top free agent acquisition and he’s been plain dreadful. He hasn’t hardly stopped a pass to his receiver all season and doesn’t stop a lot of runs from getting by him either. Not what the Raiders expected from their top defensive signing. Surprise playerMarquel LeeWe didn’t see much from Lee last season to suggest that he could step into a starting role with this team. Now a half season in, he’s easily the team’s best linebacker. Even if that is a pretty low bar.Best position groupCornerbacksThe depth at this position is a nice surprise. Even with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s sudden retirement http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-justin-ellis-jersey , they still have plenty of corners to rotate, all of whom have shown enough talent to step up. Daryl Worley, Gareon Conley, Rashaan Melvin, Leon Hall, and Nick Nelson is a decent group. You may just not see it considering the lack of a pass rush has allowed opposing quarterbacks days to find an open receiver.Best gameWeek 4 vs BrownsTheir only win, so...yeah. It required a late comeback against a bad and beat up Browns team to tie it up at 42-42 and take it to overtime where they won it. But it was the only time this season the Raiders showed fight late in a game. In so doing, the offense put up some big numbers with Derek Carr throwing for over 100 yards, and Jared Cook, Amari Cooper, and Marshawn Lynch each going over 100 yards. Those numbers allowed them to put up 21 points in the fourth quarter and win it in overtime. Even in the games early in the season in which they were competitive, they fizzled out down the stretch. Since that win over the Browns, they haven’t been competitive at any point in any game.Special teams player of the midseasonDwayne HarrisIt was basically between Harris and the long snapper. I went with Harris. He contributes all over the special teams units. He returns punts and kicks and plays coverage teams as well and leads the team with 7 specials teams tackles.MVPRodney HudsonThe steady hand on this Raiders team that has been erratic at most every position. Even while Kelechi Osemele and Gabe Jackson are not having great seasons beside him, Hudson continues being one of the best centers in the league. He has given up just two pressures all season and routinely gets downfield on run blocks.Top BallerMarshawn LynchA Top Baller once this season and a Ballers a total of four times in his six games. Jon Gruden said it best when he said Lynch was the heart and soul of this team. He put up 376 yards in six games which put him on pace to go over 1000 yards this season. And many times he was misused or underused. Not to mention he was once again running behind a Tom Cable offensive line that was getting him hit at or behind the line quite a bit.Honorable mentionJared CookCook had three great games for the Raiders. He opened the season with a bang, catching 9 passes for 180 yards. His 494 yards receiving still leads the team Rodney Hudson Jersey , putting him on pace to approach 1000 yards this season.BustersJon Gruden A buster four times and twice Top Buster. Gruden destroyed any chance this team could compete this season by trading Khalil Mack a week before the opener. It was a kick to the gut of a team that actually had hopes of competing this season. His offense has been dreadful, second only to the historically bad defense. The team morale is shot and players are fleeing this sinking ship en masse.Derek Carr Also a Buster four times and Top Buster twice. Carr’s pass numbers look great, but his touchdowns are way down and his interceptions are way up. He has had two good games this season and each time fell flat on his face the following week. Tahir Whitehead Can’t stop anything as mentioned above.Kolton Miller, Brandon Parker The rookie tackles. Both are among the worst tackles in the league. Miller has been injured some which has caused him to give up a lot of sacks over the past few games (7) after starting out the season holding up well. Neither is ready for their starting roles, but here we are.Reggie Nelson, Marcus Gilchrist The elder statesman and the journeyman. Both playing like it. This is the safety tandem Paul Guenther trots out over and over because he sees them as the most capable of running his defense. That hasn’t worked out well. Time to try something else.Rashaan Melvin Was a Buster three times in the first five games. Was benched in the sixth. And has been inactive the past two weeks.Arden Key The rookie showed some outstanding pass rush moves in camp. Turns out maybe that was just because he was facing Raiders tackles. He has mostly disappeared this season, getting just 1.0 sack who more often showing a lack of discipline versus the run.Martavis Bryant See above. Johnny Townsend The worst punter in the league. No, seriously. He’s ranked dead last (33rd) in average (41.9) and is 29th in punts inside the 20 (6). The past few weeks he seems to have forgotten how to punt, with punts of 23, 25, 27, and 28 yards.Follow @LeviDamien