NY Giants defense wary of Derek Carr after Raiders QB puts on ‘clinic’

Derek Carr is coming off one of his strongest performances of a dominant season, but the NY Giants’ defense is ready for the Raiders quarterback 

Derek Carr is in the midst of the strongest season of his career, and really hitting stride ahead of Sunday’s game against the NY Giants at MetLife Stadium.

Carr enters this week having completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 2,269 yards with 12 touchdowns to five interceptions, good for a 101.2 passer rating.

The Las Vegas Raiders’ star quarterback is also fresh off a bye week that was preceded by a standout 31-of-34 performance for 323 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against the Philadelphia Eagles.

NY Giants safety Logan Ryan isn’t taking Carr lightly, to say the least.

“He’s got great command,” Ryan told reporters Wednesday. “That game against the Eagles was a clinic, an offensive clinic.”

If the NY Giants are going to build any momentum off a strong defensive showing in Monday night’s 20-17 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, Ryan and New York’s passing defense will need to be up to task against a quarterback who currently sits fifth in the NFL in passing yards, 15th in passing touchdowns, and has his team atop the AFC West standings.

"“He’s got great command of his system and the quarterback has a lot on his plate at the line of scrimmage,” Ryan explained. “I know in that system he’s calling a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage. When he knows what you’re in, he’s calling a good play against that defense and he’s taking the profit. He’s an accurate thrower, he’s a smart thrower of the football, he’s taking care of the ball.”"

Monday night, NY Giants defensive back Julian Love intercepted Patrick Mahomes, and later Darnay Holmes seemingly pulled down a second interception, but it was negated by linebacker Oshane Ximines jumping offsides. New York is going to need to create turnovers, and limit Carr’s opportunities to win the game through the air Sunday.

Ryan believes the NY Giants have the formula to do exactly that.

“A staple of what we do is we’ve got to make it difficult on him pre-snap in what he does and what he’s seeing,” Ryan says. “And not let it be the truth all the time, only the truth some of the times. Make him hopefully check in some plays that aren’t ideal, so he does worse than 31 of 34.”