Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw three interceptions on Sunday in a 24-19 road loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but head coach Josh McDaniels on Monday after reviewing film said a number of factors can come into play that can result in a turnover.
“There’s a lot that goes into passing the ball obviously; reading the coverage, making a decision on where you want to go with the ball, and then the actual mechanics of throwing it the way you want to throw it,” he said. “Any number of those things could deter us from having success.”
McDaniels said on the deep pass to Davante Adams, the pass was underthrown. It was the same case on the pass down the middle intended for Darren Waller. Carr obviously has the arm to make those throws, but McDaniels said, “That was more of a decision of how to throw it than underthrowing. He put more zip on that one as opposed to touch, and those are decisions that happen in a football game.”
Carr was one of many Raiders starters who didn’t play a snap in the preseason, but McDaniels said having a healthy football team going into the season opener was a good tradeoff for this game experience.
“There were definitely players that didn’t play in the preseason, but I also thought we had a lot of guys that didn’t play in the preseason that played well yesterday,” McDaniels said.
Following the game Sunday, Carr said he was too aggressive on the plays that led to interceptions.
“We came in with an aggressive mindset, especially with all the weapons the we have,” he said. “That’s on me. The decisions to be too aggressive in certain moments. To (Adams) in the end zone, he beat his guy and the guy when I threw it, just fell off, and that kind of crap is going to happen sometimes.
“I could have made a better throw maybe, just be better there, but I think we showed signs of doing stuff really well. It’s on me when I’m trying to be too aggressive and force it to (Waller) down the middle. Trying to bomb it to Adams, or just trying to jam it into him to get a couple of extra yards. I mean, just throw it away. That’s the type of stuff I will learn from and just need to better for our team.”
On the positive side, the connection between Carr and Adams didn’t miss a beat from their days as teammates at Fresno State. Adams finished the game with 10 catches fir 141 yards and one touchdown. It was his 20th career game with 10 or more receptions, the third most in in NFL history behind Antonio Brown (23) and Andre Johnson (22).
Carr completed 22 of 37 passes for 295 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
“We did some good things,” Carr said. “There are some things him and I were just talking about in the locker room. We had some production, but I think we can be better and so does he. It is exciting to get out there and play with him and have him in the mix of (wide receiver) Hunter (Renfrow), Darren and the backs, and all those guys.”