Derek Carr is on track to start over Marcus Mariota for the Raiders Saturday night against the Miami Dolphins.
Carr was a full participant in practice Wednesday, an indication he has recovered enough from a groin strain in last Thursday’s 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers to convince coach Jon Gruden he’s good to go.
Neither Gruden nor Carr was available to the media Thursday.
Carr was injured late in the first quarter while rolling to his right, with the strain occurring as he began to make a move toward the end zone. He pulled up for a 2-yard loss and the Raiders settled for a chip-shot field goal. Mariota came on to complete 17 of 28 passes for 226 yards, a touchdown and an interception and also rushed nine times for 88 yards in his first game action in more than a calendar year.
In a postgame press conference, Mariota called the Raiders “Derek’s team,” and there was a hint of things to come Tuesday when Carr took his regular turn before the media and said he planned on doing everything he could to be ready to play.
“If it’s up to me, I’m going to do everything I can to be on that field,” Carr said.
Carr is having his most productive year since 2016, completing 68.1 percent of his passes (303 of 445) for 3,396 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He has missed only two games since being a rookie starter in 2014, the season finale in 2016 because of a broken ankle, and one game in the middle of the 2017 season with three fractured bones in his back.
He has been the starting quarterback for all 46 games in Gruden’s second tenure with the Raiders.
Mariota’s performance against the Chargers gives Gruden more options than he would have otherwise. First, if Carr were to struggle either in terms of staying out of harm’s way or throwing the ball, he could switch to Mariota with confidence. The Raiders were able to almost seamlessly change against their offense against the Chargers from Carr’s skill set to the passing-running strengths of Mariota.
Second, and Gruden artfully dodged this question Tuesday, Mariota could be utilized on some plays as a change-of-pace element for Carr, much the same way Sean Payton of New Orleans uses Taysom Hill in games where Drew Brees is the healthy starter.
“We went to a completely different world offensively in a lot of places, but Mariota still proves he’s a dual threat,” Gruden said. “He’s obviously very sharp, he can handle a lot of situations and if need be, he’ll be ready again.”
