Moral victories are getting old for Derek Carr. Close isn't good enough anymore.
The Las Vegas Raiders came within a score of besting the unbeaten Buffalo Bills but fell short once again.
"I'm sick of losing," Carr said after the 30-23 loss, via ESPN. "I'm sick of working as hard as I do, and as we do, and going out there and losing. I mean, it sucks. Enough is enough.
"The things that are hurting us in these close games is not them; it's us. That's the hard part to swallow."
Carr put up a season-high 311 passing yards and threw two TDs with no INTs and a 72.73 completion percentage on 44 attempts but came up just shy as he lost a fourth-quarter fumble that all but wiped out a chance for a comeback.
The 29-year-old quarterback is playing some of his best football in the young season, averaging career-bests in completion percentage (73.6), passing yards per game (273.8), TD-INT ratio (8-0) and passer rating (113.6). But he also leads all QBs in fumbles (5) and fumbles lost (4) in 2020.
At 2-2, Carr is acutely aware time is short on keeping up with the Mahomeses in the AFC West.
"Me being here, my seventh year, I've seen too much crap," Carr said. "I've seen a whole bunch of crap, if I'm just being honest with you.
"Is it going to take my positivity and my joy away? Absolutely not. I'm going to be me, regardless. But is it OK for me to be a little hot, a little pissed sometimes? Yeah. And this is one of those moments."
On Sunday, Carr hit Nelson Agholor with a TD pass after the two-minute warning to pull Vegas to within seven. It marked his 151st career TD pass as a Raider, passing Ken Stabler for the franchise record. There were no cheering fans to commemorate the milestone. And setting the mark in another failed comeback bit felt hollow to Carr and the rest of the Raiders.
"It's never good enough when you lose, he knows that, I know that," said Raiders coach Jon Gruden. "Statistics are great. He's done a heck of a job for this football team, all we've been through with the virus and not having any offseason program and trying to break in two rookie receivers [Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards] and then losing two rookie receivers [to injury]. And not having [offensive linemen] Trent [Brown] and Richie [Incognito]. It's been tough on him.
"I wouldn't question one thing about Derek Carr; he's given you everything he's got, and he's performing pretty darn good."
Gruden's praise is a good sign the coach isn't about to get antsy about starting the season 2-2 and make a hasty QB change. But if the losing mounts, anything is possible.
