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Raiders quarterback Derek Carr plays the biggest game of his career on Sunday in prime time against the Broncos. Apart from the obvious impact of the game between a pair of 6-2 teams on the standings, it’s an opportunity for the Raiders to show that they are the Raiders again.

However it plays out, Carr is happy to be a Raider. In an interview with Michele Tafoya to be aired on NBC’s Football Night in America, Carr has a message for everyone who passed on the man who was the fifth pick in the second round of the 2014 draft: “Thank you. Thanks for passing on me. I wanted to be in Oakland.”

Owner Mark Davis wanted Carr to be in Oakland a lot sooner. As PFT reported on the first day of the 2014 draft, Davis was pushing for the Raiders to take Carr with the fifth pick in round one. They opted instead for Khalil Mack and patience. The Mack pick paid off, as did the patience.

The Texans could have taken Carr at the top of round two, but the Texans likely felt that they couldn’t make Derek Carr their next quarterback given the struggles of his brother, David. And struggle his brother did, in a way that taught young Derek plenty of important lessons.

“It made me want to fight somebody,” Derek Carr said regarding the criticism of his brother. “It really did. Just watching him go through it. He never complained, getting his face beat in. Never pointed a finger. It taught me so much, that no matter what you’re going through, you’ve got to be the same person, and he was.”

Derek Carr has already blossomed into a better quarterback than David was, even if David’s struggles were exacerbated by a porous offensive line and the other deficiencies of an expansion team. And Derek Carr has a chance to give the Raiders the kind of win they haven’t had since 2002, the last time they went to the playoffs.