Josh McDaniels handled himself well during his Raiders introductory press conference, especially at one particular moment.
Shortly after being officially revealed Monday as Las Vegas’ new head coach, McDaniels, the former offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, was asked about the advantages of taking over a team that already is playoff-caliber. However, the question included a rather egregious assertion about quarterback Derek Carr.
To McDaniels’ credit, he didn’t crack a smile and gave a professional answer.
Sports Illustrated’s Hondo S. Carpenter: “Most coaches, when they take over a team, it’s in disaster mode. You get a double-digit (wins), fifth seed (in AFC). But you also get a top five quarterback. How appealing was it for you to come to an organization with a quarterback like Derek Carr?”
McDaniels: “Yeah, I mean, Derek’s won a lot of games in this league and we’ve competed against each other a number of times. I have a lot of respect for him. He certainly did a good job this year leading their offense. You know, I spoke with him yesterday, we had a great conversation. Looking forward to actually getting to meet him and get to know him as a person, as a human being. … There’s no question that we have the capacity and capability of winning with Derek Carr, we all know that.”
(You can click here to watch the question and answer.)
Oof.
Listen, Carr, the 36th overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, is a good NFL quarterback, as evidenced by his three Pro Bowl appearances. And he’s coming off one of his best seasons, completing 68% of his passes for 4,804 yards and 23 touchdowns to go along with 14 interceptions for the 10-7 Raiders.
However, in no universe is he a top five NFL quarterback. If you’re being kind, you could make a case for him being just inside the top 10, but even that is a stretch.
