ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Last year, Derek Carr was Captain Clutch for the Oakland Raiders, authoring seven comeback wins in the fourth quarter or overtime as they ran off to a 12-3 start.
This year, it's more like Captain Not So Much.
Harsh? Maybe, but Carr has one comeback victory and has cost Oakland dearly the past two weeks with bad late-game decisions, typifying his fall from grace in the minds of many Raiders fans. Especially with that monstrous $125 million contract extension he received last summer.
Against the Dallas Cowboys, it was Carr losing a fumble through the end zone for a game-sealing touchback with 31 seconds remaining in regulation -- he was trying to stretch to hit the pylon for a touchdown -- and the Raiders trailing by three points.
Monday night, at the Philadelphia Eagles, it was a curious pass he threw behind Amari Cooper that was intercepted by Ronald Darby at the Eagles' 48-yard line with 54 seconds to play on second-and-10 in a 10-10 game.
"They were playing just man-coverage," Carr said, "so I went with our one-on-one to our 'X[-receiver].' It was a slant and, yes, we didn't make the play."
It has been a theme in 2017.
"It's come down to the end and we have not made plays," Carr added. "We have not done what we need to do to win the games and that's pretty much how our year has been -- we haven't done enough. All the little details, everyone's assignment. … We win and lose as a team, but you can always put it on me.
"Everyone should feel sick right now. We lost."
The Eagles marched down, kicked the game-winning 48-yard field goal with 27 seconds to play and then, after a play that deserved the musical strains of "Yakety Sax," picked up a lateral that eluded Carr for a touchdown to make it a final of 19-10.
Carr had two interceptions and just 22 of his 140 passing yards (the fourth-lowest single-game output of his career) came after halftime. He had a passer rating of 126.4 at halftime and finished with a career-low 48.1. His 22 passing yards, on 17 attempts, were the fewest he had ever thrown for after halftime, with a minimum of five attempts.
In fact, Carr was just 1-for-6 on throws more than five yards downfield in the second half for eight yards, with the two picks. Overall, he was 3-10 on such throws, the 30 percent completion rate on those throws was the worst of his career.
Would Raiders coach Jack Del Rio have preferred to see Carr wait and take more deep shots?
"Obviously, both quarterbacks had a hard time throwing it tonight," Del Rio said, referencing Eagles QB Nick Foles, who completed 19 of 38 passes for 163 yards with a TD and INT for a rating of 59.4.
"I don't think either passing game lit it up tonight. But I'm not going to sit here, trying to do that with our quarterback."
Of course, some would point to the offensive line and a rookie starting at left tackle in David Sharpe, in place of IR'd Pro Bowler Donald Penn as a reason for Carr being skittish, though others would say he has been skittish since a Week 3 thumping at Washington.
And Carr did say he got hit a few times by the Eagles and had to get rid of the ball early.
Then there's this: Carr now has 21 career games with 25 or more passing attempts but less than 200 yards passing, the most in franchise history, per Associated Press research.
Clutch? Some would say Carr has actually needed a crutch this season, though he refuses to acknowledge how much his injuries are bothering him.
The thought of last year's broken passing pinkie finger and right leg were surely on his mind as he entered training camp this season, then came the three broken bones in his back, suffered in a Week 4 loss at the Denver Broncos that cost him only one game.
Before going down in Denver, Carr had thrown for 753 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions while completing 67.9 percent of his passes, in three-plus games.
Since returning from the injury, Carr has 14 TDs, 10 INTs and 2,500 yards while completing 60.9 percent of his passes in 10 games.
And now, the Raiders are 6-9, left to play spoiler at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Carr challenged reporters to look at what went wrong with the Raiders this season, after last year's successes -- as in what was different, what changed, and what went wrong?
Many will look at first-year offensive coordinator Todd Downing, a close friend of Carr.
"When things get tough, a lot of people point fingers," Carr said. "And I've tried my best, every single time, to sit up here and be a man and just take it. That's who I am, that's how I was raised and I'll always be that way. So when it gets hard, I fight. Nothing's going to change -- hopefully, the results change -- but I'm going to keep fighting.
"I've been 0-10, I've been in sucky situations. I've been in hard times. More so in life than football, to be honest with you, and we're going to come out of this and people will look back on it and just be like, 'Wow, what happened?'"
