Game manager has become a derisive term, chained around a quarterback who lets his running game and defense do all the hard work.
Derek Carr is anything but a game manager, having thrown for an FBS-best 4,866 yards and 48 touchdowns this season to lead Fresno State to an 11-1 record and Mountain West Conference championship. But Carr wouldn't mind hearing that label to describe his game.
"A game manager -- I wish people would call me that," Carr told the Fresno Bee. "That's a compliment. I bet (Alabama quarterback) AJ McCarron loves it, because he manages the game. What else are you supposed to do as a quarterback? That's one thing I had to learn in the offseason, not so much this season, except for that one game."
That one game was a 61-14 win at Idaho, where Carr was 37-of-48 passing for 419 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. But Carr insists he was doing too much, trying to force the ball to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Davante Adams instead of working within the structure of the offense.
Carr even went as far as labeling it the "worst game of my career from a fundamental standpoint.
"From that moment on, I just tried to be the most basic quarterback I could be and let the rest take care of itself, the stats and all those things," Carr said. "During that game, I was thinking about the Heisman. I was thinking about those things. 'Man, we could throw 10 touchdowns, maybe that'll help.' That was totally wrong -- I was being selfish."
With a chance to enhance his rising draft stock Saturday in the Las Vegas Bowl against a stout USC defense -- one scout told NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah that Carr could "skyrocket" up boards between now and next May -- Carr will have to resist those instincts once again. The Trojans are tied for 19th in the nation in interceptions and 24th in sacks, two categories Carr has done a great job of avoiding. Carr has been intercepted only seven times this season, though two came in the MWC championship game against Utah State, and he has taken only 11 sacks.
With another strong performance in front of a national television audience to close out his college career, Carr could begin to hear his "gunslinger" label replaced by "game manager."
And he'll gladly accept it.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
