Inside the Raiders: Newborn daughter arrives just as Derek Carr’s critics return
Talk about going from a valley to a peak.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was back among the mediocre, losing three fumbles and throwing a pick six in a 43-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. If Carr was listening, his critics among the fan base, social media and mainstream media were like sharks with chum in the water.
All along, Carr has maintained that 2020 was different. He doesn’t care about the slings and arrows that have no bearing on his job as an NFL quarterback or outside it. As painful as the loss was, it receded into the background the moment he met Brooklyn Carr Monday for the first time.
Brooklyn is the fourth child of Derek and Heather Carr and the first girl.
“Heather did all the work, but I was able to hold my baby daughter in my arms for the first time and as you could imagine that put a smile on my face,” Carr said Wednesday in a teleconference. “It kind of regrouped me to get it going this week.”
It took Carr until his seventh season at age 29 to be truly at peace as he juggled the occasionally incongruous trifecta of faith, family and football, and it happened in Sin City. A guy who doesn’t smoke, swear or chase women found paradise in Las Vegas.
A pleaser by nature, Carr cut down on the number of people he tried to please. He wanted to please God, his immediate and extended family, and his teammates and coach Jon Gruden.
Faith, family and football left no time for worrying about statistics, Pro Bowls or his detractors.
Carr has always been as introspective as he is friendly and outgoing, conflicted enough as a rookie to consider walking away from the Raiders during his first training camp to be a preacher. Maybe it was because Carr was so thankful his first born son Dallas had been spared after being diagnosed with an intestinal malrotation, an affliction that required multiple surgeries. Dallas survived and thrived.
Perhaps it was simply in his blood. His late grandfather on his mother’s side was a preacher. Derek will be a preacher some day. Having seen him in action, Carr’s sermons and testimonials before Christian groups are relaxed and sincere.
I'll always be in love…
Song Cred: @KB_HGA
pic.twitter.com/rFfVSD15XT
— Derek Carr (@derekcarrqb) December 2, 2020
When it came time to decide in 2014, Carr realized he had the rest of his life to preach, and a limited time to play football. He became convinced he could manage his three priorities without short-changing any of them. When his parents arrived in Napa to take Carr home, he told them he was staying and he hasn’t looked back.
Carr started 0-10 as a rookie and played under multiple head coaches and coordinators before Gruden arrived in 2018. He had a breakthrough season in 2016, only to be felled by a broken fibula on Christmas Eve with the Raiders poised for the playoffs. It’s been a long road since, and only this season has Carr’s name come up again in conversation about the NFL’s top quarterbacks. He outdueled Drew Brees and is the only quarterback to beat Patrick Mahomes within the last calendar year. He almost did it twice.
Carr maintains he’s “still a work in progress” in all areas. He’s devoting his professional life to football while at the same time realizing “I’m not always going to be a quarterback. Is my job going to take precedence over my faith and my family? No. That’s always No. 1. that doesn’t mean I give anything less (to football).”
Besides the outside criticism Carr said he has learned to cast aside, the one-sided loss to Atlanta brings the specter of 2019. It included a 6-4 record, a 34-3 loss to the New York Jets in Week 12 and a 1-5 finish to a 7-9 season that saw Carr booed off the field in his Coliseum finale, a 20-16 loss to Jacksonville.
Two of Carr’s three lost fumbles against Atlanta came on hits he never saw. The interception by Deion Jones for a touchdown was a bad choice under heavy pressure. Opponents had barely breathed on Carr for weeks and the Falcons got loose against an offensive line that had its worst day of the season. There’s every reason to think that with a better running game and a clean pocket, Carr can go back to what he was through the first 10 games.
Gruden brushed aside any thought the Atlanta loss would scar Carr.
“This is the National Football League,” Gruden said. “This is a tough business. He’s been through a lot and he’ll be fine.”
Lose to the 0-11 Jets and Carr’s promise to filter out all the negative noise will be put to a supreme test.
“I’ll pump the breaks on the winless team (talk) and just reiterate that they kicked the crap out of us the last time we played them,” Carr said. “We had to go there, and they beat the dog out of us. So if we don’t bring it, they’ll do the same thing again.”
Carr may talk a clean game, but his competitive nature is evident to his teammates and much of it comes from an admiration bordering on worship for the late Kobe Bryant while growing up a Lakers fan in Bakersfield.
“I watched every video. I read every bio. Based on how he was coming down the court, I would tell my Dad, `He’s going to post up. He’s going to spin at the baseline and shoot a fadeaway.’ I could just tell in his mannerisms . . . that’s how intently I watched him,” Carr said. “Kobe Bryant inspired me to do something . . . a lot of people counted me out when I was younger. A lot of people said I couldn’t do it. Here I am, seven years later, still doing it.”
It was Bryant who made being a “Girl Dad” famous. Carr realized the first time he held Brooklyn how Bryant felt.
Wins are great, losing hurts. Perspective is more important than either.