Five days removed from tweaking his groin in front of the nation, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr was back at practice Tuesday afternoon.
Carr was a limited participant, coach Jon Gruden told reporters, splitting snaps with backup signal-caller Marcus Mariota. It's not yet clear which QB will start Saturday night against the Miami Dolphins with the Raiders' season on the line, but Las Vegas will evaluate and be "smart" about Carr's status throughout the week, NFL Network's Steve Wyche reported.
"The coaches and our trainers will make the right decision," Carr told reporters, per Wyche. "We'll see how it goes. If it's up to me, I'm going to do everything I can to get back on the field.
"I'm feeling great. I don't know. We'll see."
Mariota filled in for Carr in Las Vegas' loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last Thursday evening, impressing in his first game action in over a year. Carr was expected to miss up to 14 days with his groin injury, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported last week. If Carr were to play Saturday night, he'd be slightly ahead of schedule in his recovery.
"Besides breaking my ankle, that moment crushed my heart the most," Carr said Tuesday of leaving the Chargers game early. "My heart was ripped out of my chest. It was a hard night, a hard couple of days for me."
The Raiders (7-7) need to beat Miami (9-5) on Saturday night to even dream of reaching the postseason in Gruden's third year as coach and Carr's seventh with the organization. Gruden has not made the postseason since 2007, and Carr was injured the one season the Raiders made it to the playoffs (2016). The Las Vegas figurehead with the most recent postseason performance is, funny enough, Mariota, who led the Tennessee Titans to a comeback win on Wild Card Weekend in January 2018.
But if Carr keeps trending in the right direction, Mariota will be back on the bench, and we can say "Aloha" to the highly anticipated all-Hawaiian QB matchup between Mariota and Dolphins starter Tua Tagovailoa.
The Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders kick off from Allegiant Stadium on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET, airing exclusively on NFL Network.
