ALAMEDA
Art Shell Jersey , Calif. (AP) — After taking a career-high seven sacks behind a decimated Oakland Raiders offensive line, Derek Carr got a phone call
from someone who knows just what that’s like to being repeatedly hit by bruising
NFL defensive linemen.Big brother David, who was sacked an NFL-record 76 times
in 2002, offered some words of consolation.“It’s not that bad,” Derek Carr said
Wednesday. “It’s not that bad, my guys are awesome. The thing about him is there
were times where they would have the right guys blocked, they just physically
couldn’t do it. At least our guys fight, we have that going for us. He did mess
with me a little bit, but no, it’s not like, ‘Oh man, how do you deal with this
or that?’ It’s not like that at all.”The situation in Oakland definitely isn’t
on the level it was for the expansion Houston Texans
Jerry Rice Jersey , but it’s been a major drop-off from the solid protection Carr earned for most of his first four seasons.Carr has already been sacked 24
times halfway through the season for the Raiders (1-7), a mark he has topped
only once in an entire season in his first four seasons. His sack rate has
doubled from 3.9 percent of pass plays his first four years — lowest in the NFL
among players with more than 25 starts during that span —to 7.8 percent this
year and he’s facing pressure at a much higher rate than he has in the
past.“It’s hard, there’s sometimes it’s gotten that way and it’s not a knock on
those guys,” Carr said. “They’re trying their tail off. We have some young guys
trying to play, we have our veteran guys who dominate and they’re great players,
but we have some young guys that are just getting their feet wet against the
best players in the world.“It’s not easy for them. For me, I’ve always been one,
I try to make it seven-on-seven as much as you can. There’s never a time where
you’re ever looking down, you just try and feel things, move and make throws.
You try and do it and as it’s happening you don’t notice it until you turn the
film on like, ‘Oh, we can maybe adjust this or adjust that’ kind of a
thing.”Injuries on the line have played a big role with right tackle Donald Penn
being placed on injured reserve following a Week 4 win against Cleveland. Rookie
Brendan Parker has struggled since replacing Penn and had to be pulled for part
of the game last week against the 49ers.Rookie left tackle Kolton Miller also
hurt his knee in that game against the Browns and has been in and out of the
lineup. He has been hampered even when he has played and came out against the
49ers because the injury got too bad. The Raiders averaged more than 11 yards a
play in the first six plays against San Francisco before the offense sputtered
after Miller first got hurt.The situation at left guard also hasn’t been good
with Kelechi Osemele missing time with a knee injury and backup Jon Feliciano
bothered by injured ribs.The decimated line has hampered the play-calling and
Carr did not complete a single pass more than 10 yards downfield in losses to
Seattle and San Francisco the past three games. He was sacked 13 times combined
in those games.“No doubt it affects him
Tim Brown Jersey ,” coach Jon Gruden said. “It affects any quarterback. … I’m not going to make any excuses. I think Derek is doing some good things. It does
make things difficult when you have the amount of injuries that we have
had.”NOTES: Miller practiced with a brace on his right knee. … DT Eddie
Vanderdoes (knee) could return for the game against Arizona on Nov. 18. … DT
Justin Ellis (foot) could return to practice next week. Joe Staley wasn’t crazy
about the idea of changing his equipment after 15 years of doing things the same
way, with good results.But last fall, because of rules designed to protect
players, he changed helmets.“It’s something that needs to be done,” Staley told
Peter King of NBC’s , in an interview conducted last fall. “And I think I’m a
perfect case study of why it needs to be done. I wouldn’t have changed my helmet
unless they made these rules changes.”Of course, Raiders wide receiver Antonio
Brown doesn’t want to do just that, and has filed a grievance over keeping his
old helmet (which the league’s safety rules have deemed obsolete). That may be
just part of the story which has taken so many twists and turns, but the willful
hostility toward safety is the most peculiar to players who have dug deeper into
what can be done to protect them.Doug Baldwin became an investor in Vicis, a
Seattle-area helmet manufacturer. As a football player, he had a vested interest
in the safety of football players, and for him the choice was easy.“If you have
a helmet out there that is proven to be safer in a number of different
ways
Ted Hendricks Jersey , why wouldn’t you wear that helmet?,” Baldwin said. “In the grand scheme of things, I want to make sure I have all the marbles that I was
born with to experience life and to enjoy life with my family and with my future
children.”Lions wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, a former Seahawks teammate of
Baldwin, also became an advocate for the company after changing equipment.“You
see and hear a lot of articles and a lot of talk about CTE these days, and you
know the effects of concussions.,” Kearse said. “My change [to the Vicis helmet]
. . . a little bit of my decision was, How can I protect myself further down the
road when football is not a part of my life? Is looking cool out there on the
field or wearing a helmet from back in college because it’s comfortable worth
it?”Brown apparently thinks so, in his effort to be the one exception to a rule
designed to protect every player.
