FOOTBALL
Jarrett Stidham shares his thoughts on replacing Carr, making first career start
Dec 30, 2022, 7:30 AM
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 02: Jarrett Stidham #3 of the Las Vegas Raiders warms up before the game against the Denver Broncos at Allegiant Stadium on October 02, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels named Jarrett Stidham the starter for Week 17’s matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.
This Sunday marks Stidham’s first career start. The 26-year-old quarterback was drafted in 2019 by the New England Patriots and traded to Las Vegas this past offseason. With years of experience under Josh McDaniels’ system, he told the media he has a good understanding of what’s going on in the playbook.
“It’s like anything in life, when you do something repetitively over and over again, you just get comfortable,” Stidham said. “At the end of the day, my job is to facilitate the offense in certain ways, and I’ve got to follow my rules and try and get the ball in these guys’ hands and do my job. And that’s something I’ve just been trying to prepare hard for and that’s all I can do.”
Head Coach Josh McDaniels addresses the QB position. pic.twitter.com/1rdhTSsNKr
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) December 28, 2022
Replacing a nine-year starter for the Raiders organization is not an easy task. But Stidham said Carr and his family have been “very supportive and very welcoming.” He added that he spoke to Carr about the decision, and while he didn’t want to share much of what was discussed, he did share one thing the former starting quarterback told him.
“The biggest thing and this is what I always appreciated a lot about Derek [Carr] was to always stay even,” Stidham said. “Never get too high and never get too low. Football is an imperfect sport, and you try to do obviously the best you can, you prepare hard each and every week, but to always just stay even.”
His goal for the final two weeks is to win, but that won’t come easy against the best defense in the NFL.
“I’m a firm believer in whatever it is in life that you do, you’re not going to get any better unless you do it against the best,” Stidham said about the team’s upcoming game against the 49ers. “So, it’s going to be a great challenge for us as a team – they’re good in all three phases. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m super excited about it, and I think would be a great challenge for us. I know we’re looking forward to it.”
