Las Vegas plays at Kansas City this week, and you can hear Raiders fans starting to groan. Derek Carr has long struggled against this opponent.
For whatever reason, Kansas City’s defense has always had his number. They brought in a new defensive coordinator last year (Steve Spagnuolo), but even before he showed up, this defense tended to get into Carr’s head. Pretty consistently.
I was writing up the preview for this game yesterday, and some of the numbers are jarring. Carr has thrown 2 interceptions in three straight games against Kansas City. He has thrown only 4 interceptions total in his last 27 games against other teams.
In his last four games against Kansas City, Carr has been sacked 3, 3, 3 and 2 times. In his last 19 games against other teams, Carr has been only 32 times (under 1.7 per game).
Jon Gruden is 0-4 against this opponent, and the last three have been ugly, with the Raiders scoring only 9, 10 and 3 points.
If we use standard fantasy scoring, six of Carr’s worst 22 games since 2016 have been against Kansas City. That includes all four of his games at Arrowhead. Crowd noise won’t be an issue, at least.
For his career, Carr is 2-10 against this opponent. He’s averaged 228 passing yards in those games, with almost as many interceptions (13) as touchdowns (15).
In fairness, I’ll point out that Carr’s two best statistical games since 2017 have both come against Kansas City. He’s had a pair with 3 TDs and no interceptions. But not a guy I would want to have to put in a fantasy lineup this week.
And while Carr is typically a quarterback you want to avoid when selecting defenses, KC’s track record against him is pretty sweet.
| CARR: WORST GAMES SINCE 2016 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Score | Com | Att | Yds | TD | Int | F Pts | Sk |
| 2016 | at KAN | L 13-21 | 17 | 41 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 5.85 | 1 |
| 2019 | at NYJ | L 3-34 | 15 | 27 | 127 | 0 | 1 | 6.35 | 1 |
| 2018 | SEA | L 3-27 | 23 | 31 | 142 | 0 | 0 | 7.10 | 6 |
| 2018 | DEN | W 27-14 | 19 | 26 | 167 | 0 | 0 | 8.35 | 1 |
| 2018 | at SFO | L 3-34 | 16 | 21 | 171 | 0 | 0 | 8.55 | 7 |
| 2016 | DEN | W 30-20 | 20 | 31 | 184 | 0 | 0 | 9.20 | 2 |
| 2018 | at KAN | L 3-35 | 24 | 33 | 185 | 0 | 2 | 9.25 | 3 |
| 2017 | at WAS | L 10-27 | 19 | 31 | 118 | 1 | 2 | 9.90 | 4 |
| 2017 | at PHI | L 10-19 | 15 | 29 | 140 | 1 | 2 | 11.00 | 1 |
| 2017 | at DEN | L 10-16 | 10 | 18 | 143 | 1 | 0 | 11.15 | 2 |
| 2019 | CHI | W 24-21 | 25 | 32 | 229 | 0 | 0 | 11.45 | 0 |
| 2018 | LAC | L 6-20 | 24 | 37 | 243 | 0 | 0 | 12.15 | 4 |
| 2017 | LAC | L 16-17 | 21 | 30 | 171 | 1 | 2 | 12.55 | 1 |
| 2018 | at BAL | L 17-34 | 16 | 34 | 194 | 1 | 0 | 13.70 | 3 |
| 2019 | KAN | L 10-28 | 23 | 38 | 198 | 1 | 2 | 13.90 | 3 |
| 2016 | at JAX | W 33-16 | 23 | 37 | 200 | 1 | 0 | 14.00 | 0 |
| 2017 | at KAN | L 15-26 | 24 | 41 | 211 | 1 | 2 | 14.55 | 3 |
| 2016 | at SDG | W 19-16 | 19 | 30 | 213 | 1 | 1 | 14.65 | 2 |
| 2019 | LAC | W 26-24 | 21 | 31 | 218 | 1 | 0 | 14.90 | 3 |
| 2019 | at KAN | L 9-40 | 20 | 30 | 222 | 1 | 2 | 15.10 | 2 |
| 2018 | LAR | L 13-33 | 29 | 40 | 303 | 0 | 3 | 15.15 | 1 |
| 2016 | KAN | L 10-26 | 22 | 34 | 225 | 1 | 1 | 15.25 | 2 |
| 2017 | NWE | L 8-33 | 28 | 49 | 237 | 1 | 1 | 15.85 | 1 |
| 2020 | at CAR | W 34-30 | 22 | 30 | 239 | 1 | 0 | 15.95 | 0 |
—Ian Allan