The Oakland Raiders returned to the practice field on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since their Week 7 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
After not playing against Arizona, both Marcel Reece and Justin Tuck returned to practice today, but Usama Young, LaMarr Woodley, Keith McGill, Carlos Rogers and David Ausberry did not participate in the afternoon session.
Through the first six games of the season, Derek Carr has proven to be one of the bright spots of the Oakland offense, and during his Wednesday press conference, Interim Head Coach Tony Sparano spoke about the development of his young quarterback.
"This kid [Carr] is really mature," said Coach Sparano. "That's proven to be factual right now. He's a guy that comes to work every day, works hard to get better, studies the game well and really doesn't get phased by too much. He's a pretty poised kid."
Mike Pettine and his Cleveland defense have the task of slowing down the rookie on Sunday, and the Browns head coach is well aware of what Carr brings to the table offensively.
"We did a lot of work on Derek [Carr] in the draft process and he looks very much well ahead of the curve, very mature," Pettine said. "A lot of times people use the cliché, 'can make all the throws.' He truly can make all the throws. We said it back during the draft that he had the best arm talent of anybody in his class. It's not a surprise to anybody here how well he's playing."
And Carr is playing well.
Through six games, he has thrown for 1,189 yards, 8 TDs and shown the poise of a player years his senior.
WR Kenbrell Thompkins, who spent last season catching passes from Tom Brady in New England, has only been in Oakland a few weeks, but already sees the special qualities that the Fresno State product brings to the table.
"Derek is obviously a tremendous football player himself," Thompkins said. "We're just trying to get on the same page and get things going and try to spend as much time together as possible and I think we're doing a good job with that and we'll see how far we can go with it."
Head Coach Tony Sparano has told Carr that going forward the team is his, and while the rookie knows he won't be perfect, he's determined to keep striving for excellence.
"Every time I compete, every time I work, every time I study, I want to be the best at it," Carr said. "Knowing that I'll never be perfect but I'm striving to be, one day, striving that way."
The young quaterback gets his next chance to improve tomorrow afternoon as he and the Raiders get on the practice field to continue their preparation to take on the Cleveland Browns.
Be sure to check back regularly to Raiders.com for coverage from the practice field, as well as Greg Olson and Jason Tarver's Thursday press conferences.
