Derek Carr fumbled away a chance to beat the Dallas Cowboyslast week and give the Oakland Raiders' fading playoff hopes some life.
Trialing 20-17 with 39 seconds left in the game, the quarterback stretched out on a scramble on third-and-3 near the goal line. Inches away from a touchdown, he lost control. The ball rolled out of the end zone, which by rule gave the Cowboys possession and the victory.
Carr said Thursday, in his first meeting with the media since the game, he'd stretch for the pylon again if the situation presented itself.
"We talk about ball security, jumping with two hands, stuff like that ... I honestly didn't think I was going to drop the ball," Carr said, via ESPN.com. "When I took off to jump, in my head I thought it was a touchdown because I knew I had the corner. From a mindset standpoint, looking back, yeah, I want to do something different because we lost. But from making that decision, I always think of it in basketball terms -- I'd rather take the last shot and miss it than pass it off and try and do it another way."
Carr took his shot and lost. Many thought it was reckless for the QB to dive towards the pylon after he'd already picked up the first down and was in position to at least tie the game, sending it to overtime.
The 26-year-old QB, however, said he wouldn't shy away from making a similar move if the situation arises again.
"From a competitive standpoint, I'd try it, but with better technique, two hands, I don't know, but something to where we don't lose the game," he said. "But from making that decision, I think I'd go for it again."
Carr noted that the rule of rewarding the defense for a fumble they didn't recover penalizes an offensive player trying to make a play.
"It does deter your mind of giving an amazing effort because an amazing effort ends up in a loss, so it's no good," Carr said. "I always try and give my best effort. When I was there and in the moment, I saw the pylon and I saw a win for our team and I tried to go for it. The fact that it went out and they get the ball, it's like, 'Dang,' one of those things.
"It's definitely something that could be looked at. There are a lot of things that they want to look at and we're always trying to make the game better. It would definitely take away from guys making an effort for those types of situations."
