You want a theory on Derek Carr’s rise to Most Valuable Player consideration this season?

Here goes, courtesy of a couple of coaches on the Raiders staff:

Derek grew up idolizing his brother, former Texans and 49ers quarterback David Carr. Learned everything from him and their quarterback-coach dad, Rodger. Has taken a leap in each of his three years in the NFL, thanks to the experience of starting all 43 games and having two great receivers.

And his confidence goes up and up, to the point where he thinks, “Hey, I am better than my brother.” And now he’s just refusing to lose games.

That’s a pretty cool (paraphrased) theory, huh?

Eh.

Derek Carr waved it off with his nine good fingers and dislocated pinkie Wednesday.

“I’m not even going there,” he said, laughing. “No ... nope. ... I learned everything I know from David. I keep going forward. I just keep pushing on with everything he taught me.”

Rodger Carr understood where the theory is coming from, but said, “Derek will always believe David is better than he is, and David will always say Derek. They’re both humble and respect each other too much to think otherwise.”

They obviously had very different starts to their careers, with David the No. 1 overall draft pick by the Houston Texans in 2002. The team used a gate for an offensive line, and David was sacked 76 times his rookie season — eight more than Derek in his first 43 games.

David, in survival mode, developed some bad habits but lasted 10 years in the NFL and finished with 65 career touchdown passes.

Derek already has 75 touchdown passes, 22 this season against just five interceptions in leading Oakland to a 9-2 record. General manager Reggie McKenzie has pieced together one of the top offensive lines in the league, and Carr makes the linemen even better with an uncanny sense of reading defensive pressures and blitzes.

Credit goes to experience, and to his brother, David.

“Derek’s seen everything in his first three years already, and he has always had a knack for reading defenses,” Rodger Carr said. “That goes back to when he was 10 years old. His brother would come home and watch game film, and Derek found it interesting. So David showed him everything.

“When Derek was 16 years old and playing in high school, he had the brain of a 22-year-old.”

So, proportionally speaking, the 25-year-old is seeing the game like a grizzled 34-year-old. And that especially shows late in games; Sunday’s 35-32 win was Carr’s fifth fourth-quarter comeback of the season.

He leads the NFL with a 121.3 rating in the fourth quarter, during which he’s thrown for 946 yards (9.2 per attempt) and nine touchdowns with just one interception. Last year, his fourth-quarter rating was 67.5 with six touchdowns and seven interceptions.

What’s Derek’s theory on why he is so much better in the fourth quarter?

“There is so much, because I’ve done so much film study,” said Carr, who expects not to be limited against the Bills on Sunday by the injured pinkie on his throwing hand. “I’ve done a lot of mental work in putting myself in situations and really trying to talk myself through things. And then, out there on the practice field, the coaches make it as hard as (they) can on me out there.

“So then, when those situations do come up, it’s really easy.”

Doesn’t hurt that Carr is an easy-going cat.

“I don’t think anything switches with him, that’s probably the key,” offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said. “He’s even-keeled. ... Every game you’re going to have your ups and downs, and he stays steady throughout.

“That allows him to accumulate information as the game goes on. Like a quarterback getting smarter the longer the down goes, he accumulates information. Derek continues to improve once we get into the second half.”

Carr ranks third in the league with a 4.4 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and his 11th career 300-yard game Sunday tied him for second in franchise history with Daryle Lamonica.

Speaking of the Mad Bomber and big arms, we’ll leave you with a Carr-approved theory: His fastball is getting faster since he left Fresno State three years ago.

“He’s always had a good high heater,” Rodger Carr said. “But some of these throws this year ... David and I are like, ‘Did you even see that ball?’” On that two-point conversion to Seth (Roberts), I was thinking that’s a real small window. And then, ‘Dannnnnnnng.’”

The Carrs say Derek has gotten bigger and stronger every year, thanks to his work at the Carr Elite training academy back home in Bakersfield.

“No one works harder in the offseason,” Rodger Carr said. “He’s more defined now than he used to be when he would just bulk up. So, yeah, his arm could be getting stronger.”

Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur

The brothers Carr

David Carr has bragging rights when it comes to the draft — having been taken No. 1 overall by Houston in 2002. But aside from that — and his career sack totals (including an NFL single-season record 76 in 2002) — David’s numbers for his first three seasons come up short when compared with those of Derek, the Raiders’ second-round choice in 2014:

David Carr

Year G Att-Com Yards TD INT Sacks 2002 16 233-444 2,592 9 15 x-76 2003 12 167-295 2,013 9 13 15 2004 16 285-466 3,531 16 14 x-49

Derek Carr

Year G Att-Com Yards TD INT Sacks 2014 16 348-599 3,270 21 12 24 2015 16 350-573 3,987 32 13 31 2016-y 11 281-423 3,115 22 5 13