Going into the Oakland Raiders’ Week 13 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, a lot of the talk was about Derek Carr‘s struggles in cold weather.
Carr had not won a game in his career when temperatures were below 40 degrees, and that was highlighted by his former head coach, Jack Del Rio.
With a win over the Chiefs, Carr had a chance not only to propel the Raiders into a first-place tie in the AFC West, but he also had a chance to silence the doubters about his play in cold weather.
He was unable to do that though, throwing two costly interceptions in the 40-9 loss that dropped Oakland back to 6-6 on the season. Carr completed an efficient 20-of-30 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown, but the interceptions were both poor passes that came at poor times.
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden came to Carr’s defense after the game, believing he can still be a good quarterback in this league. There is something to the cold weather struggles though as he is now 0-5 in his career when temperatures are below 40 degrees and he is also 0-6 in Kansas City.
When evaluating his own performance, Carr does not believe the weather was the reason for his interceptions, instead crediting the Chiefs safeties for making plays, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic:
“I threw the ball fine, it felt good. Other than the turnovers, it was a very efficient night. Ran the ball, threw the ball efficiently. When we had opportunities and things like that, we had two turnovers and they were like ‘oh gosh, stats right?’ Other than that, I think we handled it just fine, [the weather] wasn’t a factor. I don’t want to take anything away from the plays that they made, to be honest with you. They made two great plays, whether it’s 80 degrees or 30 degrees, it doesn’t matter. Those two safeties made two great plays and I tip my hat to them.”
Luckily for Carr and the Raiders, they now return home for two straight games against the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars before traveling to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16. They then finish out the year with a trip to Denver at the end of December, which could give Carr another opportunity to play well in cold weather.
At 6-6, the Raiders may need to win out to have any hope at a playoff spot. The Titans are currently ahead of them in the AFC Wild Card standings, so a win over them in Week 14 would certainly be a good start to finishing out the season strong.
