Following another tough, one-score loss for the Las Vegas Raiders, quarterback Derek Carr could not hide his emotions. The Raiders fell to 2-7 on the season after a 25-20 home loss to an Indianapolis Colts team who were playing their first game under new head coach Jeff Saturday.
A lot of eyes were on the Raiders after a turbulent week saw them put both Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow on injured reserve. Additionally, Carr’s words after last week’s loss, as well as Davante Adams speaking up, gave hope that the Raiders would come out and overwhelm a Colts team that has been less than stellar all season long.
But that didn’t happen, and after the game, Carr struggled to get his words out, but when asked about whether there was a disconnect between him and the coaching staff, he had nothing but praise for Josh McDaniels and the Raiders’ staff, via Ari Meirov of Pro Football Focus:
“I love Josh. I love our coaches. They’ve had nothing but success. Way more success than I’ve ever had.”
Following this, Carr would get choked up for a few seconds before continuing on about what was driving his emotions at that moment:
“Sorry for being emotional. I’m just pissed off about some of the things, you know, that a lot of us try and do just to practice. What we put our bodies through, just to sleep at night.”
Carr would again get emotional at this stage, pausing for around 10 seconds before driving his point home:
“And for that to be the result of all that effort, pisses me off. Pisses a lot of guys off. It’s hard, knowing what some guys are doing … just to practice. What they’re putting in their body just to sleep at night. Just so we can be there for each other. And I wish everybody in that room felt the same way about this place. And as a leader, that pisses me off, if I’m being honest.”
There is obviously an issue within the Raiders locker room as last week Carr spoke about some things needing to be addressed, and now this week, calling out those who apparently don’t care as much as some of the others do. In order for a team to be successful, everyone must be on the same page, and that simply is not the case.
The Raiders have the talent to be successful. The team wouldn’t build the leads that they do or be in basically every game if that weren’t the case. But until these issues are addressed, these Raiders will continue to come up short more often than not.
