SAN DIEGO – Once the rout was on, Raiders discussed the possibility of pulling quarterback Derek Carr during last week’s loss to the Denver Broncos. The rookie ultimately stayed in the game.
Interim head coach Tony Sparano said no such discussion was had during Sunday’s 13-6 loss to the San Diego Chargers, when the offense couldn’t do much of anything right.
It wasn’t all Carr’s fault – it’s pretty hard to move when you can’t run and receivers can’t separate – but the attack needed a spark the rookie wasn’t providing.
[RECAP: Raiders topped by Chargers, fall to 0-10]
Veteran reserve Matt Schaub never even warmed up.
A quarterback swap would’ve been short-term no matter what, with Carr remaining the team’s starter in coming weeks. Carr objected to the prospect of coming out against Denver, saying after that he should remain in the game with his team no matter what and that all experience is valuable.
Sparano agrees with that. He told the rookie to take control of the team after being promoted to interim head coach, and Sparano said he couldn’t envision at time where Carr would get yanked from a game.
“I don’t see that happening,” he said.
Carr was 16-for-34 passing for 172 yards and a 62.4 passer rating. He didn’t have a touchdown or an interception. His numbers have suffered of late with the offense struggling, but Carr is a grinder committed to getting his offense out of this funk.
“There were a couple of times where (the game) was frustrating, because it was a little thing here and there,” Carr said. “There are little things we work on and (mistakes) still show up on game day. That’s hard. All you can do is go back to playbook, watch the film and learn from it. If we’re not learning from it, than we are doing this for nothing.”
