Derek Carr’s, Mychal Rivera’s Instant Fantasy Reaction Following Week 9

The Oakland Raiders came back as a heavy road underdog to make their Week 9 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks respectable but ultimately fell to 0-8 with a 30-24 loss at CenturyLink Field.

One silver lining to the disheartening bottom-line result was the combination of Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr and dynamic tight end Mychal Rivera.



The pair combined for two second-half touchdowns, and Rivera led Oakland with 11 targets—six more than his closest competitor. Both those scores were from just one yard away, and the last came inside the final two minutes, when Seattle had built a two-possession lead and were in little danger of losing.

Both Carr and Rivera still have so much room to grow as players, so neither should be relied upon as viable fantasy football commodities just yet.

Unless Oakland figures out a way to utilize Carr's underrated athleticism and speed better in the game plan—similar to how Miami is doing with Ryan Tannehill now, with great success—his fantasy potential is limited.

Although he showed signs of brilliance, the first-year player in Carr surfaced on Sunday as well, as ESPN's Bill Williamson observed:



Williamson is referring to the preseason finale, when Carr fared quite well against Seattle's vaunted defense. Star Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman spoke about the young signal-caller's rather fearless attitude before Week 9.

"He's a gunslinger," said Sherman, via ESPN.com's Terry Blount. "They've made him throw the ball a little bit more in these past couple of games. I don't know if that has something to do with the score or schematically, but they've done a good job. He's done a good job of taking care of the ball for the most part."

Carr has a cannon but doesn't get a lot of time in the pocket, is still learning the nuances of preparing and reading NFL defenses and has had a low yards-per-pass-at...

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