Derek Carr probably shouldn't have been subjected to Von Miller T Shirts so much doubt from fans andcoachesin the first place. His 2019 season was better than his 2018 season, and his 2018 season was better than his 2017 season. He was a solid quarterback for an organization with scant knowledgeof solid quarterbacks.

But when the Raiders played their final game in Oakland last year, there was a sense Carr might not make it to Las Vegas as the team's starter. The teamsigned Marcus Mariota, bringing competition to the table, and projected minimal public confidence in him.

We thatCarr had been scapegoated for deeper organizational problems and that he could surprise observers Mitch Morse Jerseys in a le s toxic culture. But even the most stridentbelievers in the Fresno State product probably didn'tanticipatehis level of play through the first eight games of 2020.

Carr enters Sunday's rivalry showdown with the Broncos as a legitimate top-10 pa ser in the NFL and one of the primary reasons the Raiders could reach the playoffs. A home win over Denver would move them to 6-3 just the third time Buffalo Bills T Shirts they would have a record of that caliber at this point in a campaign since 2000.

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Carr ranks fifth in the NFL in pa ser rating (110.0), fifth in completion percentage (69.8 percent), 10th in pa sing touchdown percentage (6.2 Doug Flutie Jerseys percent) and third in interception percentage (0.8 percent). He has not thrown a pa s to a wide receiver older than 27. Two of his leading targets,Hunter Renfrow and Henry Ruggs III, are still in the earliest Matt Haack Jerseys stages of their careers. Running back Josh Jacobs is in his second NFL season.

The lack of experience around him has not deterred his play in the clutch a period of gamessome have accused him of shriveling within. He holds a 116.6 pa ser rating on third down. He holds a 111.1 pa ser rating on the road. He holds a 105.9 pa ser rating in the second half of contests.

Head coach Jon Gruden sent veiled shots at Carr before this Tyler Bass Jerseys year, questioning his ability to throw deep. But he's become a staunchadvocate of Carrin 2020 as the signal-caller has expanded his range to record a career-high Jack Kemp Jerseys adjusted net yards gained per pa s attempt (8.7).

"This guy's a great quarterback," . "We're surrounding him with better players. And once our defense, I think, starts playing to their potential, he can even be better."

Carr does have one problem that continuesto plague him: fumbling when the pocket collapses. No one in theNFL has Tre'Davious White Jerseys more than hiseight cough-ups(fiveof which have been lost). But because he has thrown only two interceptions all season, the i sue is more forgivable now than it has been in the past.

The Raiders of making the playoffs this yearin what Joe Delamielleure Jerseys would mark theirsecond trip theresince 2002. Carr led the teamin its only other appearance in that span a 12-4 record in 2016 clinched a wild-card berth but an injury kept him off the field fora first-round lo s to the Texans.

He could now become the first person in hisfamily to actually playin a postseason contest after heand his brother David have spent a combined 16 years failing to do so. His uncleLon Boyett also mi sed out in his lone NFL campaign in 1978.

Getting this young Raiders offense tothe playoffs would be further proof of Derek Carr's excellence, and perhaps convincing-enough evidence forhis Stefon Diggs Jerseys remaining detractors that he has become a valuable a setforthe Raiders.