ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Derek Carr had a security blanket in Amari Cooper.
For one half.
Because after Kansas City took Cooper away in the second half, Carr had nowhere else to turn and the Oakland Raiders faded offensively in an eventual 26-10 defeat in the rain on Sunday.
Consider: Carr averaged twice as many yards per attempt when targeting Cooper than all other players, per ESPN Stats & Info, and that includes only hitting Cooper once after halftime.
For the game, Carr was 10 for 13 when targeting Cooper with an average of 9.9 yards per attempt and eight completions of at least 10 yards, including being just 1-4 for 12 yards in the second half.
But Carr was just 12 of 21 throwing to everyone else, for an average of 4.6 yards per attempt and just four completions of at least 10 yards.
Carr was at a loss to explain how the offense went dry, especially after going 46 yards in seven plays for a touchdown on the first drive of the game.
"It wasn’t really anything they were doing that was different or not what we expected," Car said. "I’m not really sure, just thinking off the top of my head, why. As soon as you turn the film on, you’ll know. You’ll see it and say, There it is. Once we do that, we’ll have a better feel for it."
Carr was not given much help by his offensive line on this day either, which was also different.
Because according to Pro Football Focus, Carr had his worst game of the season with a grade of 34.3, which ranked 28th among all quarterbacks entering Monday. Much of that was because of pressure he faced.
Carr completed just 55 percent of his passes while under duress and was sacked twice, throwing an interception and losing a fumble.
The Raiders' injury issues at right tackle might also have finally caught up to them as three offensive linemen who have played there this season were inactive -- starter Menelik Watson (calf), Matt McCants (knee) and Vadal Alexander (ankle).
Austin Howard got the start Sunday, and PFF had him surrendering seven pressures on 38 pass-block attempts, resulting in the third-lowest pass-blocking efficiency among all NFL tackles this weekend. His grade of 33.5 is the lowest in Oakland.
Perhaps, though, the number that bugs Carr the most is 1-2 ... the Raiders' home record.
"It sucks," Carr said. "When you come home, that has to be an advantage. There’s got to be something where it’s just a different feel. It has to be. We have yet to create that. It’s frustrating. When we come home, we have the best fans. We should be able to have the biggest home-field advantage and go out there and dominate. But we just haven’t created that yet. It’s frustrating, but it’s not concerning."
