Derek Carr didn't have the opportunity to start a playoff game until last season, when the Las Vegas Raiders earned a playoff berth in a "winner-take-all" Week 18 showdown. This playoff appearance was just the second time the Raiders made the postseason in Carr's eight seasons, the first was when Carr missed the game with a broken fibula just two weeks before the playoffs.
Carr has made just one playoff start in his career, a 26-19 loss to the eventual AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals. Rewarded with a three-year, $121.5 million extension this week, paying $40.5 million a year to a quarterback that has failed to win a playoff game in eight seasons has some risks.
Carr won't question the optics, nor his ability to lead the Raiders back to their glory days.
"The question of, Can I win a playoff game? Yeah, that's ridiculous," Carr said Wednesday, via Pro Football Talk. "Yes. Just because we haven't, just because we had one chance and we lost in the last series of the game to the AFC champions? Yeah, I think we can. It just shows you how close we were."
Carr hasn't exactly been blessed with talent around him with the Raiders, despite the fact he's proven the franchise quarterback status. Carr has thrown for 31,700 yards with 193 touchdowns to 85 interceptions in his eight years with the Raiders, logging a 92.4 passer rating. He's started all 127 games in his career, ranking 10th in the league in passing touchdowns and fourth in passing yards since the start of the 2014 season (his rookie year).
Carr is tied for the most game-winning drives since 2014 (30 with Matthew Stafford) and is coming off a season which he finished fifth in the league in completion percentage (68.4), fifth in passing yards (4,804), and second in game-winning drives (six). The biggest deterrent to Carr's resume is on the opposite side of the ball, as the Raiders never had a defense rank higher than 19th in points or yards allowed since Carr has been drafted.
"The odds are against us. I like that kind of thought process better, so I'm going to keep that underdog mentality -- and that chip on the shoulder mindset," Carr said on returning to the playoffs. "At the same time, I know what I'm capable of, I know what our team's capable of, and I'm excited to see.
"I know we have to earn that spot, I think we were a fifth seed something like that, and now we have to earn more than that. That's the goal. With this division that will be tough, but we're excited for that challenge."
