Raiders News: Derek Carr and Broncos’ Von Miller Share Mutual Respect
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There is no doubt that the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos have one of the most storied rivalries in the NFL. Both teams will be able to kick off their divisional rivalry with their season opener on Monday night.

Although the matchup always carries a little extra weight than many other games, the camaraderie among NFL players outweighs the rivalries. That camaraderie is apparent between Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and Broncos linebacker Von Miller.

Carr and Miller have faced off nine times and Miller has recorded 6.5 sacks in those games. Despite being on the opposing side of Miller’s wrath, Carr still recognized the talent that Miller has, via Raiders.com:

“Von, I say it every time, he’s a walking Hall of Famer,” said Carr during his weekly press conference. “I really hope that the fans in Denver, I really hope just NFL fans in general enjoy watching him play. We see guys now retire quick, like [Andrew] Luck. You see, forever I grew up watching Peyton Manning, and he doesn’t play anymore. Those times fly by. I really hope everyone enjoys watching it because he’s a walking Hall of Fame player. The guy has the franchise record in sacks. The guy continues to look like he gets faster every year. The guy literally takes the ball out of people’s hands, me included. He does freaky stuff on the field and you have to respect it.”

Carr will likely be correct about Miller’s inclusion in the NFL Hall of Fame. Through his career, he has recorded 98 sacks and 196 quarterback hits, all with the Broncos.

Despite his age and worry that he could retire soon, Miller appears to be improving each and every year. Carr will hopefully have some help against Miller and the Broncos this year as the Raiders have revamped their offensive line.

Miller knows that with a solid line of protection, Carr can deal some serious damage:

“Like I said before, Derek Carr, he’s a great quarterback when you can protect (him),” Miller explained. “He’s super smart, he’s going to find the open guy quick. It’s not going to take him a little bit to get to that read, he’s going to do that quick. He’s going to put the offense in great positions to run the ball, pass the ball. He’s the leader, he’s a great quarterback over there. I think with the new offensive lineman, you know three years ago when they had all that success they had, they had huge offensive lineman. They were in these big packages and would run the ball or pass the ball out of there and just do damage and that’s when Derek had one of his best years before he broke his leg late in the seasons. They probably would have went deeper in the playoffs if he wouldn’t have broken his leg as well. He’s a great quarterback, and if you put a great team around him, he’s going to be great as well. That’s exactly what the Raiders did, they have great players all around him.”

This season should provide interesting insight into how Carr’s career might be remembered. Through only five seasons, Carr already sits 117th on the all-time passing leaderboard and has the potential to crack the top 100 this season.