Derek Carr Could Already Be The Most Important Player In Raiders History

The 56,000 fans who gathered in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to watch their resurgent Raiders host the flailing Carolina Panthers probably didn’t know the full range of emotion they were going to experience that afternoon.

It started with outright euphoria when Khalil Mack scored the first touchdown of his career, a gorgeous and acrobatic display of otherworldly athleticism. After he shoved another 300 pound man onto his heels, he leapt into the air and snarled a Cam Newton pass with the soft hands typically reserved for the finest of receivers and scampered into the endzone, all in one fluid motion.

Much of that elation lasted throughout halftime, and continued when the Oakland Raiders received the ball with a seemingly insurmountable lead. But that all changed when the unthinkable happened. The Raiders fumbled a snap. At first, it seemed like any other botched football play — the ball slipped out and bodies started flying. Only this was almost the most consequential moment of the Oakland Raiders season.

The random smattering of shrieks, gasps and groaning as sections of the stadium slowly began to receive and process the news audibly. Backup quarterback Matt McGloin was tossing passes on the sideline, not a truly abnormal sight, save for the fact that Carr was nowhere to be seen. The photo of Derek’s twice dislocated pinky finger gradually made its way through section 130 where I sit each week.

As each person slowly gathered enough cell phone signal to receive screenshots from friends or scroll through Twitter and see the ghastly, season-altering sight of Carr’s finger unnaturally bent. Instantly Raiders fans were offering their hands and fingers to Carr in hopes that they’d serve as a suitable replacement to the most important pinky finger in the stadium.

https://twitter.com/Mega_Medium/status/803017410596900864

https://twitter.com/bansky/status/803014882702422016

This was the moment I realized Derek Carr might be the most important player in the history of the Oakland Raiders franchise.

It’s been 48 years since the Raiders drafted a true franchise quarterback, a passer that would man the helm, unchallenged for a decade and lead the team to the promised land. The team drafted Ken Stabler in 1968, waited two years for him to take a snap and watched him complete a Hall of Fame career that included an MVP and a Super Bowl title.

The team has had many serviceable quarterbacks since Stabler, but none were homegrown, true franchise quarterbacks. Quietly the Raiders revolving door at the position is nearly as miserable as that of the Cleveland Browns. The Raiders, after all, are the home of Todd Marinovich and the incomparable JaMarcus Russell. They’ve started the likes of Matt Flynn, Terrelle Pryor, Andrew Walter, Aaron Brooks, Daunte Culpepper, Jason Campbell, Kyle Boller, Josh McCown, Bruce Gradkowski, Marques Tuiasosopo and Charlie Frye. And that’s just in the last 10 years. Carson Palmer played in 25 beleaguered games for the franchise, including one just four days after being acquired in a mid-season trade with very little grasp of the playbook. So yes, the Oakland Raiders have been as quarterback-deprived as any other franchise in the NFL.

Except, now those days are over.

That feeling of doom ended with exhilaration when No. 4 in Silver and Black trotted back onto the sideline, sporting a new, sleek glove on his throwing hand. Nevermind the fact that Cam Newton would toss an 88-yard touchdown on the very next play, with an absurdly perfect throw that traveled nearly 50 yards in the air. Derek Carr, the Raiders savior was back, and really that was all that mattered.

That sight of Carr’s gloved hand would later become memes for the Raider Nation to share, with Carr’s head on Michael Jackson, Luke Skywalker and even O.J. Simpson’s body. Carr being a Skywalker would make sense, because what happened next might have required some sort of grasp of The Force. There were two more roars left for him before he’d even complete a pass with that gloved hand, first when he was shown tossing his own warmup passes on the sideline and nodding yes to someone. Then when he jogged onto the field to play again.

https://twitter.com/coolwhiiptiim/status/803347255289856000

Carr rallied the Raiders to 11 points in the 4th quarter, just enough to beat Cam and the Panthers. He completed 8 of 11 passes on the game-tying and game-winning drives, including a 49-yarder on 3rd and 9 in the shadow of his own endzone. He also converted a two-point conversion with a pass so fast and so precise that two Panthers defenders collided when they foolishly lunged at the ball they thought they could actually get a hand on, only to get up and realize it had whizzed past them and right into Seth Roberts’ arms.

Carr has set himself up to be — health permitting — the quarterback of this franchise for the next decade. Negations between Carr and the Raiders are already underway and he’s basically being handed a blank check. Adam Schefter reported last month that Carr’s deal would be “Andrew Luck-ish,” meaning in the 5-year, $125 million range, tying him to the team until at least 2023, and deservedly so. The Raiders have nine wins for the first time in 14 years, and five of those have come thanks to a come from behind bid from Carr. Currently, he’s 8th in yardage and 7th in career touchdowns in franchise history. In just his third season. At just 25 years old.

When the Raiders are trailing, he’s at his best, throwing 12 touchdowns to zero interceptions. Sure, the walkoff pass to Seth Roberts against the Bucs and the Amari Cooper game-winner against the Texans all involved long runs after the catch by his receivers. But Carr practically handed a game-winning 23-yard pass to Michael Crabtree in the only spot in the stadium where he could have caught it without a defender getting to it first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1fpNMQVcE

Same for his latest huge 4th quarter touchdown throw, a pinpoint back shoulder pass to Clive Walford against the Panthers, with a slick, black glove now covering that twice-dislocated and twice-relocated pinky finger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtT042-jFbA

It’s the stuff of legend, and with Patriots superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski now out, possibly for the season, Carr and the Raiders might be the most formidable team in the AFC. Whatever the case, the Raiders are only going to go as far as Carr and his right arm, hand and pinky take them. The good news is, even if that’s not to Houston and Disneyland after a Super Bowl win, they’ll have plenty of years to watch and see just how far he takes them, pinky permitting.