Oakland Raiders: Notes and Observations From Week Three

Sep 27, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell (34) gets hit out of bounds by Oakland Raiders cornerback T.J. Carrie (38) at the two yard line during the second quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

T.J. Carrie Debuts At New Position

One of the more interesting things to come out of the game was that Travis Carrie — who has proven to be Oakland’s best cover corner over the first three weeks of the season — was asked to switch positions against the Browns. Rather than lining up at corner, Carrie switched over to strong safety for the game — a position he hasn’t played since high school and a position he may well be playing a lot more of.

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Despite not having played the position in a number of years, Carrie adapted to the switch well. He registered four tackles and two passes defensed for the game. While not perfect, obviously, he was good enough at safety to draw the praise of a future first ballot Hall of Famer.

After the game, Charles Woodson — who himself made the switch from corner to safety — had this to say about Carrie:

"“He knew what he was doing. There were a couple of things we’€™ll work on in terms of communication, but I thought he did an excellent job considering it was his first time out there.”"

With Carrie playing safety, Neiko Thorpe and D.J. Hayden were the starting corners, with the very recently acquired David Amerson playing the number three corner role. It is a role switch that paid some dividends for the Raiders, and with Nate Allen not expected back until week ten, it’s an alignment we could see a lot more of.

Carrie played well, but the Raiders are going to need a lot more help in the secondary if they want to keep themselves from getting lit up by opposing quarterbacks week in and week out.

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