The Sports Xchange

ALAMEDA, Calif. — It looks like the Oakland Raiders will get quarterback Derek Carr back for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Coach Jack Del Rio said he expected Carr to play. Carr said he took “99 percent” of the snaps, and the Raiders made no transaction involving another quarterback — a clear indication they think both Carr and Matt McGloin will be available.

“It isn’t 100 percent, but it’s pretty close,” Carr said. “I’m not going to hurt our team and myself further when it’s only the first week and go out there and make it worse. We all felt it was good enough; the coaches, training staff, the doctors,that I could go out there.”

The question is whether they get the Carr they hope to see — the one they considered one of the NFL’s top young quarterbacks — or the guy who really didn’t play that well right up to the point when he left the regular-season opener with a bruised thumb on his throwing hand.

Carr threw an ill-advised stiff arm at a Cincinnati defender in a 33-13 loss and ended up leaving with a thumb injury. Up to that point, Carr completed 7 of 12 passes for 61 yards and missed badly on at least three throws.

This was following a preseason during which Carr completed less than 60 percent of his passes and did not look sharp in any of his limited performances.

Oakland fans, notoriously fickle when it comes to the starting quarterback, were beginning to voice their displeasure with the passing game at the time of Carr’s injury. The fact that McGloin managed only 142 yards on 23 completions while taking over for Carr means they are not clamoring for No. 2, but they surely would like to see more out of No. 1.

Carr, despite 16 NFL games under his belt as a rookie out of Fresno State last season, believed he may have been impacted by all the excitement over the new start, new receivers and new coaching staff.

“I felt I got so excited for the first week I was throwing fastballs,” Carr said. “I was out there trying to throw through people. I settled down and I felt fine. I definitely felt good after those first couple of drives.”

In the quarter and a half Carr faced the Bengals, he mostly threw short — evidenced by his yardage total (61) and number of attempts (12). It was one of the criticisms of his rookie season, when Carr threw short of the first down stakes so often he ended up with the worst yards per attempt (5.5) of any NFL starter.

“Sometimes you take your shots early, sometimes you take them later,” Carr said. “We ended up having to check down on some plays. It’s a chess match. It’s just what we call and what they call against it.”

Carr felt he and his teammates were not about to overreact after one poor game, given they bear no relation to the team that had 13 losses a year ago.

“It’s one game, guys,” Carr said. “Was it the way we wanted? Was it ugly? Yeah, it was ugly. It wasn’t what we wanted. It wasn’t what we looked like in practice. It’s not the flashes we saw in the preseason.

“You just have to grind through it. Sometimes it stinks. Sometimes you get punched in the mouth, but you’ve got to answer back. Nothing has changed at practice. No one is walking around feeling down.”

Notes: Fullback Jamize Olawale (knee) did not practice Wednesday and may not be available to face Baltimore. … Defensive end Benson Mayowa, who missed the Cincinnati game with a knee injury, did not practice Wednesday and may not be available to face Baltimore. … Safety Charles Woodson (shoulder) did not practice but has not been ruled out of the game . … Defensive tackle Justin Ellis (ankle) did not practice and his status is unknown . … Defensive end C.J. Wilson was back on the roster and practicing after being re-signed Tuesday.