The Raiders are off to a disappointing 2-5 start in 2022 in their first season under head coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Dave Ziegler.
Coming off a 24-0 shutout loss to the Saints in New Orleans, the Raiders are spending the week in Sarasota, Fla. as they prepare to play the Jaguars on the road. Quarterback Derek Carr had one of his worst performances in years last Sunday, completing 15-of-26 passes for just 101 yards with an interception. He was also sacked three times.
Notably, receiver Davante Adams finished with just one catch for 3 yards. Receiver Hunter Renfrow caught one pass for 6 yards.
Still, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ziegler offered a positive assessment of Carr’s performance on the whole in 2022.
“From the mental side of it — very smart,” Ziegler said, via Vic Tafur of TheAthletic.com. “Picked up the system, learned the system well. and he’s continued to grow into the system. And I think that there’s a natural progression to that. And I think he’s made steady progress in terms of learning the system, learning the checks, being comfortable with the reads, and I think he’s done a good job. He competes very hard. And I think he’s done a lot of good things. I think he’s improved as the season’s [gone] on.
“We have to help the quarterback, too. We have to be able to get open. Like we’ve talked about, we have to have good protection.
“Whether it’s him or another player, they all need to continue to work to improve. But I think Derek’s done a good job. I think he’s done a good job leading the team. I think he’s done a good job managing the game. And like I said, with him and every other player, we want to see continued improvement.”
The Raiders signed Carr to a three-year, $121.5 million extension in April. He’s completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 1,621 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions so far in 2022. His passer rating is down from 101.4 in 2020 and 94.0 in 2021 to 86.8 in 2022. His yards per attempt are also down from 7.7 last season to 6.8 this year.
