3-1-SEA 1 (Q4, 1:58) 4-D.Carr pass short left to 81-M.Rivera for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
Another rollout, and this time it’s easy. Rivera is wide open. I think the throw from Carr could be better; Rivera has to actually dive to make the catch. While there is a defender in the area, he’s a couple of steps behind. Carr could make this play easier on his receiver.
3-3-DEN 5 (Q2, 11:25) (Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass short middle to 12-B.Butler for 5 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is, in my opinion, Carr’s most impressive TD throw on the year. He’s facing pressure from both sides and right up the middle. Butler is his second or third read. Butler himself is running a skinny post that Bradley Roby has well defended. There really is only one place Carr can put the ball for it to be a catch, and the throw is perfect. Butler makes the catch falling out of the endzone and the Raiders put up points.
1-10-DEN 18 (Q4, :53) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass deep middle to 81-M.Rivera for 18 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is another impressive throw from Carr, albeit in garbage time. He’s got a threat of pressure coming around the edge and he’s targeting Rivera up the seam. The LB has pretty tight coverage, but also has his back turned. That’s all Carr needs, and he throws it over the LB where his TE can go up and get it. This is a tricky throw because if it’s too low he’ll hit the LB in the back and if it’s too high it’ll be intercepted by the safety overtop. Carr’s placement is good.
1-9-KC 9 (Q4, 1:46) (Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass short middle to 89-J.Jones for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN
This throw put the Raiders in the lead for good late in a messy Thursday Night game against Kansas City. It was Carr’s first win of his career. Other than that aspect, there’s nothing particularly impressive about the throw. The Chiefs only rush three and don’t even get a hint of pressure. Jones puts a filthy move on the DB and makes Carr’s choice easy. I commend Carr for the situation but this is a throw even the worst NFL QBs will make.
3-3-SF 3 (Q2, 10:51) 4-D.Carr pass short left to 72-D.Penn for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
On a tackle eligible play, all Carr has to do is get the ball to Penn who pops open because the defense expects him to block. It works, but I’m going to nitpick about the throw. Now, he doesn’t want to rocket it in there because Penn isn’t used to catching passes but Carr’s throw is so weak that Penn has to bend down to grab it. If the safety is in position half a second sooner this wouldn’t have been a TD because of the bad throw.
3-1-SF 9 (Q3, 4:13) (Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass short middle to 45-M.Reece for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is the third TD pass Carr got to throw on a one step drop. It’s a pretty simple play from his perspective. With the way the 49ers deal with the stacked WRs, Marcel Reece has inside leverage and Carr knows he will be open on the slant pre snap. His throw is on target to Reece who takes it in for the TD.
3-5-SF 5 (Q4, 10:43) (Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass short left to 81-M.Rivera for 5 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This fade route is a jump ball for Carr’s big TE target. Carr puts the ball exactly where he’s supposed to. Good throw.
1-1-KC 1 (Q4, :37) (Shotgun) 4-D.Carr pass short right to 89-J.Jones for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
Another play with a one-step drop then throw; Carr’s throw is a bit behind Jones but it gets the job done.
2-3-BUF 3 (Q2, 15:00) 4-D.Carr pass short right to 89-J.Jones for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
On a rollout, Carr once again has a receiver uncovered in the back of the endzone. This time it’s Jones, who the Bills completely ignored. The defense’s mistake turned into an easy TD throw.
2-1-BUF 1 (Q4, 2:55) 4-D.Carr pass short left to 49-J.Olawale for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
With the Raiders leading by just two and less than three minutes remaining in the game, the FB Olawale gets open in the flat and Carr completes the pass for a TD. While Olawale is wide open, he still has to reach back for the pass. Could have been a better throw.
3-1-DEN 1 (Q3, 8:59) 4-D.Carr pass short middle to 49-J.Olawale for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
Olawale gets completely ignored in the back of the endzone. This TD throw is as easy as playing catch in your backyard.
This is stating the obvious, but Carr looks quite good on these throws. Nitpicking the best outcomes from a player will do that, just as taking the worst plays from any player will make him look bad. However, while looking at the best and worst plays from a player won’t give you the whole picture, it will tell you what he does well and what he needs to improve upon. For Carr, you see a couple of things that stand out. First of all, he has a pretty deep ball and can hit receivers in stride. He also had very good ball placement on throws that required the receiver to go up and fight for the catch. A few of the windows he fit passes into were quite impressive. These plays show that Carr has the arm strength, accuracy, and anticipation to succeed in the NFL. These are, once again, some his best plays, so they won’t really tell us if he displays those traits consistently, but at the very least he has shown them. I’m going to leave you with one last table, my thoughts on the degree of difficulty of his throws:
Degree of Difficulty
| Easy | 10 |
| Normal | 8 |
| Hard | 3 |
A number of his TD passes were from very close to the goal line (again, 10 within five yards). Some of those passes get very easy if a defender makes a mistake. With 8 TDs passes of “normal” difficulty, Carr showed, in my opinion, that he can consistently make the throws he needs to at this level. He also showed that he can make even more difficult throws.
Expect future posts in this vein on (at least) both Bortles and Bridgewater, with the same charting information. I will also cover the turnovers that these young QBs had in 2014 in a similar style.
