Oakland Raiders: A look inside some numbers Derek Carr must improve in 2018
By Kevin Saito
2.5
Dovetailing nicely – or perhaps horrifically, depending upon how you want to view it – with his decline in touchdown percentage in 2017, was the rise in Carr’s interception percentage.
In 2017, Carr posted an interception percentage of 2.5 – 13 picks on 515 passing attempts. It was the highest of his career and factors into Oakland’s offensive shortcomings last season.
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To put this in a little perspective, Carr’s interception percentage in his rookie year was 2.0. He threw 12 interceptions on 599 passing attempts. In 2015, it rose a bit, to 2.3, after his 13 pick on 573 passing attempts performance.
However, in 2016, it plunged dramatically, all the way down to 1.1 percent. In 2016, Carr threw just six total interceptions on 560 passing attempts for the season.
The fact that he threw more picks (matching his career high) on the fewest passing attempts of his career – leading to his highest interception percentage ever – is more than a little alarming.
Maybe, given the overall struggles of the offense, he was trying to do too much. Maybe, he was forcing balls in where they had no shot at getting to the receivers.
Whatever it was, it’s a statistic that Carr is going to have to turn around, on the double.
It’s no real secret that quarterbacks who take care of the ball and don’t turn it over a lot, tend to be among the best in the league – as do their teams.
If Oakland is going to climb back into contention, Carr needs to rediscover that 2016 form.