Raiders’ Title Hopes Cruelly Evaporated After Devastating Derek Carr Injury

You could read the lips of Derek Carr after he went down in a heap, his right ankle stuck and twisted under the body of 270-pound Indianapolis defensive lineman Trent Cole. One of the first things Carr said was: “It’s broke.” 

Then, Carr appeared to say: “It’s bad.”

Carr was helped off the field, unable to put weight on the leg, and it was obvious from Carr’s reaction, and the sudden quietness of a nervous fan base at Oakland Coliseum, that something was seriously wrong.

“We all felt it,” coach Jack Del Rio told the media after the game. “I think the stadium felt it.”

The 33-25 score didn’t matter. The fact the Raiders had their first 12-win season didn’t matter. All that mattered was Carr.

Carr was surrounded by teammates and medical officials and eventually an air cast was put on Carr’s leg. A player’s reaction is often the best indicator of just how bad an injury is. They know their bodies. They’ve experienced everything. As Carr was driven off the field, he fought back tears. He knew. He knew.

And Carr’s instincts were right. Del Rio announced to the media after the game that Carr had a broken fibula and the quarterback was out indefinitely. Surgery was scheduled for Christmas day.

The injury is devastating for any number of reasons. The Raiders are one of the best feel good stories in all of sports, a team that made the post-season after years of recent misery. A franchise that had restored glory to a team that once swelled with it.

It is devastating because Carr is a talent, and a good dude, and fact is, you hate to see awful things happen to nice players.

Most of all, the injury is a killer, because the Raiders have no chance to go far in the playoffs without Carr. They are not beating the Patriots with …

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