Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said before the season started that he is “tired of the talk” and just wants to “go out and play football and not care about the other stuff.”
With two weeks under his belt, that’s looking like the right approach to the season. Carr followed up a good performance against the Panthers in a Week One win by going 28-of-38 for 282 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-24 win over the Saints on Monday night.
Carr reiterated his disinterest in talk after the game, but head coach Jon Gruden was willing to spare a few words. Gruden noted that Carr has had to play with a variety of receivers behind a shifting offensive line the last couple of years and still put up big numbers in 2019 while praising his play so far this season.
“This guy’s a great quarterback,” Gruden said. “We’re surrounding him with better players. And once our defense I think starts playing to their potential, he can even be better. He does so much with the ball and without the ball and behind the scenes that I think Raiders fans should really be proud of him, and I know I am.”
The Raiders will try for a 3-0 start in New England next weekend and achieving that goal will lead to the kind of chatter about Carr that even the quarterback might not mind.