Patrick Carr went full beast-mode against Tulane: 18 carries, 139 yards and 2 TDs in just 2.5 quarters of action.
Carr has shown flashes of brilliance but has also looked indecisive at times. That wasn’t the case last night. He showed vision in finding openings, he was patient waiting for others to develop, he was decisive in his first-cut, and was explosive going through it.
Here’s a breakdown of a few of his highlights from Thursday night:
This play looked like it was headed for no gain. The DL and the LB did a good job of holding up the offensive line and fighting to a stalemate. But instead of trying to just plow through them, Carr waited for space to run-behind Brooker to the left side and found room to surge for 9 yards.
Here, on 2nd and 10, the MLB was coming on a run blitz. Carr showed patience again as the the offensive line did their work. Mason Denley crashed-down on the blitzer, center Will Noble got down-field to kick-out the OLB, and Josh Jones sealed-off the DT giving Carr a hole.
As soon as the blocking developed, Carr sliced through the opening and tore-through several would-be tacklers. Here’s a better view of it from spider cam:
Total team effort on that touchdown run.
Yet another example of waiting for the line to open a hole on a designed cutback:
This is the first play of a drive that ends in 7 points:
Braylon Jones pulls here and pops the DE Hatcher, knocking him back. Hatcher makes a desperate attempt at an arm-tackle but Carr flies right by him. Josh Jones gets to the second-level and erases the outside linebacker.
Meanwhile, Carr makes the strong safety look foolish before he just falls at #21’s feet. In all, Carr slips four arm-tackles on a 36-yard gain.
The offensive line did a solid job in the run game all night. They weren’t opening many big holes but they don’t have to. Carr has the explosiveness to exploit a small opening.
I’ve been a Carr fan since seeing him in the 2017 Red & White game when he led all rushers with 122 yards. He was seldom-used last year but has stepped up his game this season.
Thursday, Carr looked confident running the ball in his 18 carries. This team needs his breakout-game to be just the beginning: he’ll be running against heavy fronts in Memphis due to King’s injury.
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