Oakland Raiders: A look inside some numbers Derek Carr must improve in 2018

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This is actually a statistic that doesn’t get remarked upon all that often, but one that perhaps, should be looked at. And that is the number of fumbles.

Last season, Carr coughed the ball up eight times in total – the most memorable one perhaps, being to lose the game against Dallas.

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The Raiders didn’t lose every single one of Carr’s fumbles, but that is a lot of times to put the ball on the turf. And when you combine that with the 13 picks he threw in 2017, you’re starting to talk about turning the ball over – a lot.

Games are won and lost because of turnovers. The teams that are adept at taking the ball away, tend to do very well. While the teams that give the ball up a lot, tend to do very poorly.

In 2016, the Raiders had an opportunistic defense that excelled in creating turnovers. They also had an offense that was stingy about giving the ball away. They were on the plus side of the turnover ledger for the first time in a very long time.

That statistic changed drastically last year though, when the defense couldn’t seem to buy a turnover. They had two interceptions by cornerbacks all season long – both by Sean Smith, in one game. And as a team, had just five overall.

The Raiders, as a team, put the ball on the ground 33 times last year – losing 22 of them. Carr accounted for seven of those lost fumbles himself.

That’s 20 turnovers for Carr – and that’s way too many. To avoid putting his team in bad situations and help win the turnover battle, Carr is going to need to take care of the ball a lot better.