The Oakland Raiders finally have a young quarterback they can build around.

Derek Carr, strong-armed and poised, gives the Raiders a belief that this rebuilding project, unlike many others in Oakland, actually has legs.

“They seem like they have a lot of confidence in themselves,” Chargers cornerback Patrick Robinson said this week. “They seem to be a lot better team than they are perceived to be.”

Chronic losing has plagued the Raiders since they walked onto Jack Murphy Field 13 winters ago and got humiliated by the Tampa Bay Bucs and former Raiders coach Jon Gruden in Super Bowl 37. They’ve not had a winning season the last 12 years, using 18 starters at quarterback.


Carr has provided stability, having made all 21 starts since arriving last year as a rookie from Fresno State.

When the Chargers last faced Oakland, in Week 11 last year, they held Carr to 162 passing yards and took a 13-6 victory in Mission Valley.

But the Raiders have since gone 5-6 with Carr. And the Raiders (2-3) are in second-place in the AFC West entering Sunday’s Week 7 game against the Chargers (2-4) at Qualcomm Stadium.

As a four-point underdog on betting lines, the Raiders are given their best chance coming into San Diego since their ’02 team arrived a 3.5-point favorite and, behind quarterback Rich Gannon, won by 20 points that December en route to the AFC playoffs.


Carr (6-foot-2, 214 pounds) went 36th in the draft behind three other quarterbacks: Blake Bortles, who went third to Jacksonville; Johnny Manziel, who went 22nd to Cleveland; and Teddy Bridgerwater, taken 32nd by Minnesota. Of the 14 quarterbacks drafted, only Carr, Bortles and Bridgewater have started 10 games. Bridgewater, the final pick of the first round, has the best record and passer rating (9-8, 83.9). Next are Carr (5-16, 80.3) and Bortles (4-15, 74.2).

Offensive strengths

The line is one of the most stable in the NFL. All five blockers have played all 341 snaps. Three blockers are better than average in left tackle Donald Penn, left guard Gabe Jackson and center Rodney Hudson.

Along with veteran newcomer Michael Crabtree, who has no dropped passes in 46 targets, polished rookie Armani Cooper is an upgrade on Andre Holmes, who was the No. 1 receiver last year and is now a solid three.


Carr’s 93.9 passer rating is up from 76.6 of last year. He gets the ball out fast: at 2.33 seconds after the snap, seventh-quickest in the NFL. He is the 30th-least pressured quarterback at 25.9 percent of his dropbacks and can use 4.69 speed on scrambles.

Defensive strengths

An NFL player since 1998, when Philip Rivers was in high school, safety Charles Woodson understands Chargers pass concepts like few if any opponents do. Woodson turned 39 this month and celebrated by picking off Peyton Manning twice in Oakland’s most recent game. Of the 10 passes thrown against him this year, Woodson picked off four and broke up another one.

Among outside linebackers in a “3-4" defense, Khalil Mack is seventh in quarterback hurries with 17 and is also a good run defender. Aldon Smith, a former 49ers star, has 16 hurries, while tackle Dan Williams is a run-clogger with three quarterback hurries.


Vulnerable areas

A season-ending injury to end Justin Tuck in the most recent game, a 16-10 loss at home to Denver, deleted Oakland’s best defensive lineman. Cornerback D.J. Hayden’s quarterback rating allowed is 119.3. With a quarterback rating allowed of 148.2, Curtis Lofton is last among “3-4" inside linebackers. Converted tackle J’Marcus Webb, the right guard, has allowed 10 hurries and three sacks.

Short on explosiveness, the offense is 23rd in yards per pass (6.1). An anemic ground attack has topped 100 yards just once and put up only 65 yards against Denver.

Bottom line


The Raiders gave the Chargers two tough games last year and will view this as a winnable game. They have the advantage of coming off a bye week. After the bye last year in Week 6, they surprised the Chargers by throwing downfield far more than in the other four games. Carr piled up four touchdowns and 282 passing yards, both of which would stand as season-highs, before Jason Verrett picked off a deep fade meant for Holmes to seal San Diego’s 31-28 win at Oakland. Rivers is at least a touchdown better than Carr, but it would not be a surprise if the Chargers are playing to the wire for the fourth game in a row.