Classically, Arrowhead has been a house of horrors for Derek Carr. At one point it was the stadium where he not only couldn’t get a win, but had some of the worst games of his career.
His winless streak there ended on October 11, 2020 — one day short of tonight’s game landing on it’s two-year anniversary.
That night Carr played one of the best games he has ever played. He threw for 347 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, finishing with a 126.7 passer rating.
Both Nelson Agholor and Henry Ruggs had long touchdowns. The 72-yarder was the longest of Ruggs’s career
The result was a 40-32 Raiders victory over the previously undefeated Chiefs and the now infamous Raiders bus victory lap around the stadium.
That game not only represents Carr’s only win at Arrowhead in nine trips, but Patrick Mahomes’s only loss to the Raiders in eight meetings.
Mahomes has a career average over over 37 points per game against the Raiders, so essentially Derek Carr and the Raiders beat him at his own game.
What’s crazy is just how much of an anomaly that game has been for Carr in Arrowhead. Otherwise his trips there have been among the worst games in his career.
That game was the only time he has ever had multiple touchdowns and had more touchdown passes than interceptions.
Carr has had just two games in his career with a passer rating below 50 and one of those was at Arrowhead. That was the Week 13 game in the 2016 season that removed him from the MVP conversation, so clearly he was playing well elsewhere only to run into a wall in KC.
Of the 14 games Carr has had with a passer rating below 65, four of them happened in KC.
He has arguably the best weapons of his career in Davante Adams, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, Mack Hollins, and Josh Jacobs. But the stalled drives and red zone issues continue to plague him and the Raiders.
So, can Carr reach back and find the same magic of two years ago under the lights of Monday Night? There is little thus far this season that suggests he will.
Then again, there was little early in that 2020 season to suggest he would pull out the win either. And he has plenty talent around him. So, anything’s possible.
