Fresh Perspective

Carr learns lessons sitting on sideline

- Michael Wagaman

Unlike a year ago when a broken leg ended his season and took the Raiders playoff hopes with him, Derek Carr’s broken back could wind up being a blessing in disguise.

At least that’s how Carr is looking at it. Whether or not that turns out to be the case, however, remains to be seen. Still, sitting out the Week 5 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Carr says, offered him a different perspective both on that game and on what has gone wrong with Oakland’s offence after a quick start to the season.

“When you watch it from the sideline it’s really hard,” Carr said. “To sit there and see certain looks and see things going on with all those kind of things. Each man has to do their job. We talked about that, actually before I got hurt, when we went into the Denver game, (that) I couldn’t do too much. I’m just going to do my job.

“Take what they give us and when the big plays are there, you make them. I think that goes for everybody. If each man just does their job and doesn’t worry about anything else, I think we’ll be better off.”

That might have been Carr’s biggest drawback through the first month of the regular season.