Raiders hopes are rising, but Derek Carr seeks middle ground

Going all the way back to OTAs and on through training camp, a different vibe has been detected around the Raiders.

It’s evident in how coaches and players have expressed themselves throughout the summer and how general manager Mike Mayock all but declared this season an almost playoffs or bust proposition.

Hope is clearly in the air. As the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens approaches on “Monday Night Football,” it is impossible to escape.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is all in, without question. As the leader of the team, the confidence he exudes goes a long way in the locker room. As he bounces around the Raiders’ facility in Henderson, staying positive and demanding that everyone not deviate from an established standard is a message he delivers to his teammates.

But his buy-in comes with a qualifier.

As he heads into his eighth season with the Raiders, the scars of bitter disappointments past are still fresh.

“Yeah. I’ve been through my fair share of stories in my time here,” Carr said.

He doesn’t wear those scars so much out of pride as he does protection. They are constant reminders not to get too high or too low or to get too up or down about what things look like in early September, let alone the middle of the season.

Using his arm and hand to draw a line in the air, Carr describes a mental middle ground he has created for himself.

Call it his safe place.

“I’ve learned to just kind of stay like this,” Carr said, floating his hand flatly in front of him. “And try my best to stay there.”

Yes, he is excited about the development of young wide receivers Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards. Absolutely, he believes a rebuilt offensive line will provide a satisfactory level of play and that, coupled with tight end Darren Waller, running backs Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow, the offense as a whole has a chance to be dynamic.

Without question, butting heads every day with a rebuilt defense that features newcomers Yannick Ngakoue, Gerald McCoy, K.J. Wright, Casey Hayward and Denzel Perryman has left him with great optimism for that side of the ball.

It’s all a reaso to get excited, even to a hardened veteran like Carr.

Nevertheless, the past is always lurking. It reminds him that nothing is ever promised no matter after how promising things might look in the summer.

“I’ve seen so many games go like this and then ‘vroom’ at the end,” Carr said, pointing downward. “Some of our seasons go like this and then at the end, ‘vroom.’”

That includes the last two seasons when the Raiders started 6-4 and 6-3 but could not close the deal over the second half of the season.

Painfully, playoff hopes went up in smoke.

As a result, at this stage of his career, Carr isn’t so much about expectations and hope as he is about creating a mindset that carries him from one hour to the next, day after day and game after game.

If he’s learned one lesson over the last eight years, that is it.

“I watched Nick Saban talk about this level of intensity that you have to bring every single day,” Carr said. “He mentioned this recently. I love that so much, and I’m just trying to stay there. I’m not trying to get too excited. I’m not going to get down when it’s hard because every football game is hard.”

But even as he says that and even as he plants himself firmly in the mentally safe place he’s created for himself, he sees and picks up on the team’s new vibe.

It gives him hope, without question, as the Raiders get set to take the “Monday Night Football” stage against the Ravens.

“I think that our mindset is right,” Carr said. “We’re ready.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.