Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Analysis: Blame for Raiders’ fatal loss to Steelers falls squarely on Derek Carr

Derek Carr’s three interceptions doom Raiders’ chances at Steelers

Raiders at Steelers

Don Wright / Associated Press

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith (56) sacks Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) during the second half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022 | 11:06 p.m.

Forget what feels like the umpteenth blown lead of the season. Forget the unfamiliar bitterly cold and blustery conditions. Forget everything except the roughly 35 yards needed to get into field goal range and at least force overtime.

That’s all that stood in the way of the Las Vegas Raiders prolonging their playoff hopes with 43 seconds remaining and all three timeouts still at their disposal Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. It’s not a comfortable position to fall into, but it’s one good teams regularly navigate behind good quarterback play.

But the Raiders and Derek Carr haven’t done so for the majority of the season, and they weren’t about to break the trend against the Steelers. Carr misfired on a deep pass intended for slot receiver Hunter Renfrow on the drive’s second play to serve up his third interception of the night, this time to cornerback Cameron Sutton.

Game over and, for all intents and purposes, season over. Steelers 13, Raiders 10.

“When you turn the ball over, you give the other team more opportunities than you have,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said in his postgame news conference. “It’s impossible to overcome.”

The Raiders fell to 6-9 with the loss, clinching a losing record on the year and all but knocking them out of the playoff chase. They’ll be officially eliminated if either the Miami Dolphins beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday morning or the Los Angeles Chargers defeat the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football.

Both teams are more than field goal favorites.

“I just care so much,” Carr said. “When you don’t do your best, you let your team down, you let your organization and fans down, it hurts. It breaks your heart but, at the end of the day, nobody cares. You get back up and keep going.”

But it might be too late this time, and not just for the Raiders’ season. It might also be too late for Carr to secure his place with the only franchise he claims he ever wants to play for.

Las Vegas can move on it from its nine-year quarterback relatively easily this offseason, making many consider the final stretch of the season a referendum on his future. And with two losses where the passing game couldn't get going in the Raiders' last three games, Carr's potential trial period isn’t going according to plan.

In addition to his three interceptions against the Steelers, Carr completed 16 of 30 passes for 174 yards and regularly saw his throws sail way off course. The temperature dipped as low as -10 degrees with the wind chill, by far the coldest game Carr has ever played in.

He was clearly affected by the weather despite vowing he would not be during the week.

“I thought he actually threw the ball decent tonight,” McDaniels said in the most tepid possible defense of his quarterback. “Once the game started, the wind died down a little bit. It was a little bit towards their bench but it wasn’t terrible. I didn’t think it was super impactful.”

It wasn’t on the opening drive at least.

The Raiders’ offense initially appeared supercharged as it went 72 yards on 14 plays capped by slot receiver Hunter Renfrow juking two defenders to score on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Carr on a 3rd-and-8 play. Las Vegas would never be that efficient again for the rest of the night despite Carr having a full complement of healthy weapons and Pittsburgh’s secondary having struggled throughout the year.

Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller — both of whom were activated from injured reserve two weeks ago — were outstanding. The former had four catches for 42 yards with a couple key conversions mixed in while the latter logged four catches for 58 yards.

Carr targeted top receiver Davante Adams a team-high nine times but was frequently way off as the Pro Bowler had no chance to catch too many of the passes thrown in his direction. Adams finished with two catches for 15 yards.

“We are talented but talented doesn’t mean wins and I’ve seen that first-hand in different years,” Carr said.

The first interception, in fairness, wasn’t all on Carr. His first throw of the second half wasn’t perfect but it ricocheted high off the hands of tight end Foster Moreau and into the reach of cornerback Arthur Maulet.

McDaniels also somewhat pardoned Carr's second pick, on the following possession, but maybe he’ll reconsider after watching the film. Carr threw a ball clearly behind Renfrow on a slant to allow an easy interception by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

The Raiders’ defense and Steelers kicker Chris Boswell bailed Carr out from his mistakes for much of the night.

Boswell missed a pair of field goals — from 43 and 52 yards — while the Las Vegas defense never allowed Pittsburgh inside the 20-yard line until 1:05 remained in the game. The Raiders’ defense was weakened by then with both edge rusher Chandler Jones (elbow) and linebacker Denzel Perryman (shoulder) having left the game with injuries.

Jones was carted off in the third quarter, and Perryman was also set to be transported to the locker room in the fourth before the vehicle malfunctioned. Two staffers had to instead help the team captain to the locker room.

Both players were off the field for the Steelers’ 10-play, 76-yard game-winning drive. A pair of Steelers’ rookies, quarterback Kenny Pickett and wide receiver George Pickens, capped it by connecting on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds remaining.

It was the first time the Raiders trailed all night.

Again, not ideal but far from disastrous. There was reason for hope for all of seven seconds of game time before Carr committed an unforgivably ugly giveaway with the game on the line.

“You lose the turnover battle in this league, most of the time you lose the game,” McDaniels said. “Our ability to take care of the football was a strength earlier in the year. Obviously we haven’t done a very good job of that the last month or so. We’ve gotten away with it but tonight it just cost us too many other opportunities.”

The aftermath of Pittsburgh’s trio of takeaways was Carr leading the NFL with 14 interceptions going into Sunday’s games. That’s unacceptable for a quarterback who was given everything he could ever want this offseason.

Carr might have thrown an even worse interception in a loss to the Rams two weeks ago, but it was easier to overall pin that similar late-game collapse on McDaniels. It seemed at the time that the coach didn’t give Carr enough opportunities to win the game.

Perhaps what happened in Pittsburgh showed why McDaniels was hesitant to give Carr those chances. In a spot where the quarterback got them, he couldn’t capitalize.

Yes, it was miserably cold. And yes, the endgame situation was daunting.

But good teams and good quarterbacks often come through anyway. The Raiders didn’t; Carr didn’t.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or

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