The Oakland Raiders have been one of the surprise teams so far in the 2019 season, but it is important to remember that they are still extremely young and a ways away from being a finished product.
That was evident in Week 12 when they traveled across the country to take on the New York Jets and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. It wasn’t just any loss though as they got beat in all facets of the game, resulting in a 34-3 defeat to fall to 6-5.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had one of his worst games of the season, although he wasn’t the only one at fault for that as the offensive line failed to protect him all day and his wide receivers had some key drops.
He did not make excuses for the loss though and hopes his young team can use it as a learning experience, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports:
“We got our butts kicked. There’s no way around that,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said. “They got after us from start to finish, and hopefully it’s an eye-opener.”
Carr is in his sixth season as quarterback of the Raiders, which means he has been through some years that were far worse than this one. While obviously disappointed by the loss, Carr noticed that his teammates reacted differently than in previous seasons, which is why he is so high on this group:
“No one was hanging their heads,” Carr said. “I’ll just say it was different than times past. I’ve been around guys where stuff like that would happen and it’s kind of miserable to be around some people for reasons that aren’t good. That wasn’t the case this time.
“We know how quickly things can change in the NFL. We were just on a [three-game] winning streak and came out and got our butts kicked. I hate to say it, but it’s not going to be last time you come out and just get beat up. … It happens. It’s this game. As long as you trust your process, trust the plan the coaches are putting together like our guys do, we’re going to bounce back. We’re going to be just fine.”
Carr is right in that the attitude of this team is a lot different than years past, which is why they have been able to overcome a lot of adversity and are still in the mix for a postseason spot.
Things don’t get any easier though as they now travel to take on the first-place Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13. If Oakland wants to stay in the mix for a postseason spot, then they are going to need to play a lot better moving forward than they did against the Jets.
