What Raiders’ Derek Carr had to say about his critical interception

Derek Carr took a chance and it didn’t work out the way the Oakland Raiders wanted.

Carr was picked off in the end zone by Xavien Howard and the Raiders fell 28-20 to the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

“We have plays that are built in, with certain stuff. If we have one-on-one, we can go to certain looks (and) those kind of things,” Carr said. “I just saw one-on-one with Martavis (Bryant). I just gave him a chance. They ended up making a good play. The outcome sucks but I think, going back through in my head, getting one-on-one with that guy, I’d probably have to do it again.”

Marshawn Lynch and Doug Martin were effective running the ball, combining for 107 yards.

“We tried to run the ball,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “We saw a lot of coverages and different blitzes. We had them off balance. We moved the ball very well. We just got fooled that particular play. That guy (Howard) made a great play. (He made a) great play in one-on-one coverage.

“We have a lot of work to do here. We’re going to continue to work. We’ve played three good football teams. We played them hard. We’ll continue to work and we’ll get this show on the road here hopefully soon.”

Sitting at 0-3 doesn’t sit well with Carr.

“It’s not what I expected at all,” Carr said. “Trust me, I know how to deal with adversity, and you don’t do it by going in the dumps and stop working hard and give up. That’s what I think soft people do and that’s not what this team is. When things get hard, when life gets hard, you put your head down and you grind and you make sure whatever you can do, you do better.”

The star quarterback from Fresno State will look to turn things around against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 30.

This time, Nelson had the hot hand – Jordy Nelson recorded his first touchdown with the Raiders, scoring on the opening drive of the game. He leads the NFL with 17 red-zone touchdowns since 2016. He finished with 151 yards Sunday.

For the third consecutive game, the Raiders had a player surpass 100 receiving yards, which marks the first time that’s happened for the club since 2005.

The others to top 100 receiving yards were tight end Jared Cook and wide receiver Amari Cooper in Week 1 and Week 2, respectively.

Lynch finds end zone again – Lynch has now recorded a score in three consecutive games, marking the second time he’s done so with the Raiders and the first time he’s opened the season with at least one touchdown in the first three games since 2008.

Fast start, slow start – For the third consecutive game, the Raiders scored on their opening drive and held a halftime lead. But the Raiders haven’t done much in the second half. So far this season, the Raiders have been outscored 64-17 after halftime.

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 5:20 PM.