Some wise words from Derek Carr’s former coach holds weight for him with the Raiders

Whenever the Oakland Raiders do something positive and more importantly a win, Derek Carr will remember some wise words a former Fresno State assistant told Carr and the other Bulldogs back in 2009:

“I’ll never forget John Baxter,” Carr said Sunday after the Raiders’ 20-6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

“We had this special teams call out at Fresno State and one of the things he said was celebrate all wins. It doesn’t matter how good it is, how bad it is, you celebrate all wins. Anything where a guy triumphs in something or win on a play or win a game, you celebrate all wins because it’s so hard. This business will test your character. A lot of our guys are finding that out right now. It will test you and it will humble you real quick and I think when you have little victories, you have to celebrate them. You pat the guy on the back and tell them you’re proud of them and just say we need more.”

The Raiders suffered a fifth straight loss to drop to 1-8.

Oakland was down by 14 points with 4:10 remaining and went for it on fourth down in the red zone, but Carr rolled to his right and threw the ball away.

“We were looking for a big play in that situation, and the Chargers smelled it out,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “I take credit for that play call. The play was designed for Jalen Richard and I don’t know from where I was standing exactly how much pressure there was, but it looked like (Melvin) Ingram was beaten down on him. That was one play among others that cost us today.”

Carr explained what happened on the play saying “we had a play designed for Jalen and they just covered it well. We’ve seen it on film that worked against them whole bunch of times, we just didn’t get it. “

The Raiders finished 0 for 3 in the red zone.

“We just got to finish in the red zone,” Richard said. “We started the game real good, and I felt like it was one of the best games the defense played all year. We didn’t finish in the red zone. We just have to lock in.”

Carr, who broke the 17,000-yard passing yard mark for his career and trails only Ken Stabler and Rich Gannon for most passing yards in franchise history, believes it will get better for the Raiders at some point.

“We just got to keep fighting and keep working,” said Carr, who completed 24 of 37 passes for 243 yards. “I think for me just maybe trying to extend a play here and there. I have faith it’s going to get better. I have no doubt in my mind.”