The Raiders were blasted on national television Sunday night, losing 27-10 to the Redskins in D.C., rarely looking competitive throughout. It was an especially rough night for Raiders QB Derek Carr, who went 19-of-31 for just 118 yards with a touchdown and two bad interceptions, including one on his very first throw of the game.
Former NFL scout and Bay Area media member John Middlekauff said it was one of the worst games he’s ever seen Carr have, and that his body language was particularly troubling.
“He was atrocious Sunday night,” Middlekauff said. “To me every guy has awful games. It was inevitable to have a bad game on national television — he’s had so many good games — so having bad games isn’t that big of a deal necessarily, but to me it just looked like he wasn’t really into it, and that’s not his deal. He’s really their spark plug. I kept waiting like ‘he’s going to make a play, he’s going to do something, he’s going to bring some energy, some fire,’ and he didn’t at all. If anything it was the opposite. His body language. I thought it was one of the worst body language games I’ve ever seen him have from Fresno (State) to the pros.”
Middlekauff also believes that the Raiders (2-1) are not a good enough team to overcome poor performances by Carr.
“If he plays like that they literally have no shot, which is a problem. The Chiefs can win a game when Alex (Smith) is s***ty. Denver can win a game when (Trevor) Siemian is terrible against solid teams. The Raiders have no chance. The Redskins were in the playoffs two years ago and last year went 8-7-1, they were right in the playoff mix until the last game, and this year it looks like they’re going to be decent. The (Raiders) got embarrassed by best case — lets say the Redskins win the NFC East — if you’re the Raiders you’re a playoff team too, you shouldn’t get embarrassed by that team. You should at least, even if you lose, have some moments where you look like you’re their equal.
“If Derek Carr has four of five of those against good teams they will lose every single one and they will not make the playoffs.”
Listen to the full podcast below. To hear Middlekauff’s comments on Carr, start from the beginning.