Under Pressure, No Quarterback Has Been Statistically Better than Derek Carr

After a relatively slow start to the season, it feels safe to say Derek Carr is back to his 2016 form.

Through nine games, Carr’s quarterback rating (104.4) is sixth-best in the league and the arbitrary stat that his critics have loved to harp on for years can’t even be applied anymore. Yes, Carr now even ranks in the top-10 in the league in yards-per-attempt.

But one of the subtle areas Carr has impressed this year isn’t going to show in the box scores.

Over the first five years of his career, Carr hasn’t always been consistent under pressure. Attribute that to the fact that he doesn’t have Deshaun Watson-like athleticism or maybe it’s been more about the ever-changing offensive playbooks since he was drafted in 2014. Finally in the second year of an offense again, Carr and his receivers seem to have a better understanding of what’s going on and Derek has been carving up defenses, even under pressure, like it’s 2016 again.

According to Pro Football Focus, among quarterbacks that have faced more than 20 pressures on the year (every starter in the league), Carr is best in the NFL in terms of quarterback rating (109.2). Every elite scrambler in the league (Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, etc.) have a lower quarterback rating under pressure than Carr through ten weeks. Under pressure, Carr has yet to throw an interception and has five touchdowns. Furthermore, his 62.5% completion under pressure is just below the rest of the league’s overall completion percentage.

Carr has only been sacked 11 times and while a lot of the credit belongs to play calling and the Raiders’ offensive line, Carr continues to frustrate and exhaust pass rushers by unloading the ball quickly.

And since we’re only on day six of a 10-day victory lap, let’s give credit to one of Jon Gruden and Derek Carr’s staunchest critics.

Why did we ever consider the opinion of someone who dropped a take like this in the first place?

But don’t look for that one on Twitter, my good friends, because sometimes when you make a career of bad takes, the only way to cover your tracks is to pretend they never happened in the first place.

Look for a the Carr/Gruden tweets to probably disappear in the weeks and months ahead, too. When you have a game plan, you gotta stick to it… even when the scoreboard says you’re losing.

Or on this case, especially when the scoreboard says you’re losing.

twitter: @raidersbeat