No pinky, no problem for Raiders QB

After suffering what he later called the most painful injury of his life, the only thing that Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr wanted to do was to keep playing football.

Few would think a dislocated pinky finger could be the worst injury an NFL player has suffered, though there was a reason why.

Carr dislocated the finger on a broken snap from teammate Rodney Hudson in the 35-32 win over the Carolina Panthers yesterday but it took the doctors some time to realise it was worse than first thought.

Carr's brother David, a former NFL quarterback himself, told the NFL Network that Derek was still in pain even after the finger was put back into place.

"When he originally went to the sideline in a mass panic, which put my entire family into a mass panic, they popped it back in and they say 'ok, this feels better?' David Carr said.

"He says 'no, this still feels pretty bad'. And then they realised that the second knuckle was also dislocated."

Carr underwent scans while the game continued on without him, and the Raiders eventually fell behind to the struggling Panthers in the third quarter.

"His only question was 'can I damage it any more?' They said by the looks of the X-ray it's not broken, so you can go back out there," David Carr said.

Wearing a black glove upon his return Carr completed fewer passes but threw longer, finding the best medicine is a victory dance.

Carr battled through the pain to record his fifth game-winning drive this season, a new franchise record, as Oakland remained on top of the AFC West with a 9-2 record.