Derek Carr says Raiders staying even keel from spring to now
ALAMEDA , Calif. —
As quarterback Derek Carr takes the temperature in his locker room, he is comforted in how nothing seems out of the ordinary.
In fact, the same vibe he feels now was in place last spring when this group began its offseason program.
“To be honest, no, because we’ve always had great energy,” Carr said. “Whether it was OTA’s or workouts. Meetings. Training camp All of those things. We’ve had great energy all the time. So the fact that there’s still great energy in the locker room does not surprise me.
”The fact that (the energy was the same) when we lost a couple games in a row back at the beginning of the season, it doesn’t surprise me. Because we don’t get into wins and losses. We don’t get into stats and all those things. Player of the Weeks and all that kind of stuff. Because it doesn’t really matter until the end of the season.
”
Nevertheless, Carr concedes it is important that the Raiders are seeing a payoff to that positive energy.
“ Because then you start to see, like, yeah what we’re doing is right, you know?” Carr said. “And when we do what our coaches say, when we execute our assignments and when everyone just does their job, everyone gets to benefit from it. I guarantee you Maxx Crosby isn’t just sitting there saying, ‘yeah, I got four sacks.’
“ There’s good guys next to you. Same thing with Josh (Jacobs) Same thing, always, with myself. There’s 10 other guys on the field with you. The coaches are helping to put a plan together to help us produce and things like that.”
But again, the key creating a balance for which there is recognition of those rewards without being consumed by them to the point of the Raiders getting too far in front of themselves.
“As long as our guys can keep a level head, which they will — and we’ll make sure of that with those young guys — … it’s nice to see our process be rewarded,” Carr said.
More Raiders: Follow at vegasnation.com and @VegasNation on Twitter.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.
