The sadness in Jack Del Rio’s eyes said it all. As Derek Carr stood on the sidelines awaiting a cart to take him for an x-ray that would confirm the worst, a season-ending broken fibula, devastation rippled from Del Rio, past Oakland and enveloped the entire NFL zeitgeist.
A Raiders 33–25 win over the Colts could not mask the obvious. In Carr, Oakland not only lost its franchise quarterback, but an MVP candidate who gave the team a legitimate shot to win its first Super Bowl since 1984 after securing a postseason berth for the first time since 2002.