{"id":7649,"date":"2016-12-06T13:15:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T18:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=7649"},"modified":"2016-12-06T13:15:28","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T18:15:28","slug":"derek-carr-valuable-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2016\/12\/06\/derek-carr-valuable-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Carr: Most Valuable Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oakland Raiders<\/strong> are the talk of the town. At 10-2, they are currently the top seed in the AFC<\/strong>. Despite having a defense that couldn’t stop a nosebleed most weeks, the Oakland Raiders have come away the winners all but twice this season. While Khalil Mack<\/a><\/strong> is earning Defensive Player of the Year consideration<\/a>, there’s another player on the Raiders that deserves an individual honor, and his name is Derek Carr<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Derek Carr: Most Valuable Player<\/h2>\n

It might seem unlikely that one team could have both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year on the same team, but it has happened. The Carolina Panthers boast a MVP in Cam Newton<\/a><\/strong> and a Defensive Player of the Year in Luke Kuechly<\/a><\/strong>. In fact, not only was Newton the MVP last year, but he was the Offensive Player of the Year as well. The only problem is that Newton won last season, and Kuechly won back in 2013.<\/p>\n

However, there have been instances when a team won the MVP and Defensive Player of the year in the same season. The most recent was back in 1994, when the other<\/em> team in the bay, the San Francisco 49ers<\/strong>, had a MVP in Steve Young<\/a><\/strong>, and a Defensive Player of the Year in Deion Sanders<\/a><\/strong>. Before that, Lawrence Taylor<\/a><\/strong> actually won both awards for the New York Giants<\/strong>\u00a0in 1986.<\/p>\n

Do you know what the 1986 New York Giants and 1994 San Francisco 49ers have in common? Both teams won the Super Bowl<\/strong>. So not only is it possible for one team to get both awards, but both teams that have done it in the last thirty years won the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Derek Carr<\/h3>\n

Derek Carr has perfectly personified the 2016 Oakland Raiders. He’s hungry, he’s humble, and just wins, baby<\/em>. It isn’t always pretty, it isn’t always easy, but at the end of the day, Derek Carr is a winner.<\/p>\n

There’s still a quarter of the season left, but Carr has already set the all-time NFL record for game-winning touchdown passes. The Oakland Raiders have their first winning season since 2002, and there isn’t a doubt that that wouldn’t be true if they didn’t have Carr under center.<\/p>\n

Numbers<\/h4>\n

Simply put, Carr’s numbers are very good. The biggest case against Carr is that there are quarterbacks with better numbers. Three men have more passing yards, six men have more passing touchdowns, and six men have thrown fewer interceptions (with at least 200 attempts). Carr’s 3,347 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only five interceptions are impressive, but in each category, someone is better.<\/p>\n

However, that’s not true when you look at how his numbers hold up as a whole. It’s true that six quarterbacks have thrown more touchdowns than Carr, but four of them have only thrown two more, and of all the passers with at least 20 touchdown passes, Carr has the fewest interceptions.<\/p>\n

And whlie three men have thrown for more passing yards, only Matt Ryan<\/a><\/strong> has fewer attempts than Carr. Drew Brees<\/a><\/strong> has more passing yards than Carr, but he’s also thrown the ball 42 more times. Now, Carr’s average wouldn’t be enough to cover the spread, but it would get him pretty close.<\/p>\n

As a passer, Pro Football Focus<\/strong> only ranks Tom Brady<\/a><\/strong> and Andrew Luck<\/a><\/strong> ahead of Carr, and it’s easy to see why. Carr has been absolutely phenomenal, despite frequently finding himself under some pretty unusual circumstances. Which leads to the next subject.<\/p>\n

Intangibles<\/h4>\n

The first way people will attack Carr as a viable MVP candidate is with his gross statistics, but once that’s been debunked, they move onto the offense. And to be fair, Carr isn’t the only talented player on that offense.<\/p>\n

As if playing behind arguably the best offensive line in football wasn’t enough, Carr also has Amari Cooper<\/a><\/strong>, Michael Crabtree<\/a><\/strong>, and a host of supporting players to throw the ball to. And on defense? The aforementioned Khalil Mack has to be pretty good to be considered a Defensive Player of the Year favorite.<\/p>\n

However, that doesn’t mean things have been easy for Carr and the Raiders. They’re seventh in the league in rushing, but only one of their backs, Latavius Murray<\/a><\/strong>, has over 500 yards. The Raiders have had success on the ground against teams like the Denver Broncos<\/strong> and New Orleans Saints<\/strong>, but they haven’t been able to consistently move the ball with their backs.<\/p>\n

Defense<\/h4>\n

Oakland’s defense is putrid. Everyone wants to talk about how they’ve gotten better, or even that they’ve been “top ten over the last few weeks”, but at the end of the day, this defense is dreadful. They’re 29th in the league, giving up almost 390 yards and 25 points a game. Against the Buffalo Bills<\/strong>, they couldn’t stop the run to save their lives, and the Carolina\u00a0<\/strong>Panthers<\/b>\u00a0managed to come back despite being down 24-7 at one point.<\/p>\n

Despite Mack’s success, it’s not like the Raiders have a phenomenal pass rush to speak of. Mack is top five, but only three teams have fewer sacks than the Raiders. Outside of Mack and occasionally Bruce Irvin<\/a><\/strong>, the Raiders have no pass rush to speak of. Rookies Shilique Calhoun<\/a><\/strong> and Jihad Ward<\/a><\/strong> combine for half a sack through their first twelve games.<\/p>\n

So despite having great weapons and a fantastic offensive line, Carr is playing with an inconsistent run game and a porous defense. The Raiders only own three wins where the margin of victory is greater than a single score, and two of those wins came against Buffalo and the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/strong>. Far too often, the Raiders win or lose depending on how well\u00a0their quarterback\u00a0plays.<\/p>\n

That’s not sensationalism either. The whole world saw it first hand<\/em> when Carr injured his pinky against the Panthers. It was the first drive of the second half, and the Raiders had a 24-7 lead. Carr left the game for two series, and suddenly the Raiders were losing. However, on the arm (and injured pinky) of Carr, the resilient Raiders were able to respond and ultimately win the game.<\/p>\n

Tom Brady<\/h3>\n

As great as Derek Carr has been this year, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots<\/strong> has been better. There’s no question that Tom Terrific is playing with purpose in 2016. Unfortunately for Brady, he’s also playing with four fewer games and a banged up receiving corps.<\/p>\n

Brady’s numbers have been unreal, and he’s been in the MVP conversation for weeks<\/a>, but his total numbers just won’t be impressive enough. Even after a historic run, Brady is still only 25th in passing yards. He missed too much time, and with Rob Gronkowski<\/a><\/strong> injured indefinitely, his season totals won’t be good enough. Being suspended for four games isn’t a very viable excuse for season totals.<\/p>\n

The Dallas Dilemma<\/h3>\n

Depending on who you ask, people will say that the Dallas Cowboys<\/strong> have zero or two MVP candidates. Rookies Ezekiel Elliott<\/a><\/strong> and Dak Prescott<\/a><\/strong> will definitely be duking it out for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but to give either player the MVP is ridiculous.<\/p>\n

At this point in his career, Prescott is still just a game manager. He’s avoided the big mistakes and helped take care of the offense, but if you asked 100 people if they’d rather have Carr or Prescott, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone taking Dallas’ number four. In fact, you don’t have to, because we already have.<\/p>\n

\n

Just a midnight poll… from what we've seen this season alone… you need a #4 for one game, which one do you take?<\/p>\n

— Nope (@rysphemism) December 2, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n