By James Arcellana
This may sound far fetched, but the Oakland Raiders can win some games even if Derek Carr is unable to take a step forward in his second season. As long as Carr doesn’t take a step backwards, his performance in 2014 was good enough to win, but only with a better supporting cast around him. The Raiders have been so bad for so long, many feel like they need a stud quarterback to lead them out of the darkness. That is most certainly one way to do it, but sometimes that seems about as likely as winning the lottery. The other way to do it has been tried and tested and proven to work throughout the history of football. Build a strong defense, a strong run game and have a quarterback who can do enough.
The Raiders could have that run game in 2015 if things go right. They need Latavius Murray to stay healthy and Roy Helu Jr. to be as good as many believe he will be. It would also be nice if Trent Richardson and/or Michael Dyer proved themselves to be a quality backup. But with that being said, it’s not at all unrealistic to think that the Raiders could have a very good run game in 2015.
Defense, however, is an entirely different question.
The argument could be made that the two biggest holes on the team are at pass rusher and cornerback. But the pass rush is uncertain at this point. The team solidified the defensive line but not with pass rushers. The addition of Dan Williams will make the Raiders hard to run against and if Mario Edwards Jr. can show that he is capable of being a good pass rusher in addition to a run defender then the defensive line will look pretty darn good. The linebackers look like the strongest position group on the entire team and the addition of Nate Allen at safety will hopefully bring more turnovers than the team has had in a while. And if even just one of the young corners breaks out everything could change. Plus, there is that guy named Khalil Mack who could have a monster year in 2015.
The Raiders would need a lot of things to go right but it’s not out of the range of possibility for this team to improve in key places other than at quarterback and still win some games. Realistically, they won’t be making a playoff push without Carr getting better, but even if he does that’s a pretty unlikely scenario anyway. But to find themselves at or near .500 without Carr showing much improvement isn’t all that crazy of an idea. Carr had a solid rookie season and did so while carrying an entire offense on his back and with an offensive coordinator who didn’t like to throw the ball more than five yards. At this point, I believe Carr has already shown he is at the very least an above average quarterback in the NFL. That doesn’t sound great, but with a great run game and a solid defense, that could be enough to win way more than three games.
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