Carr was definitely better than Leaf - otherwise though I totally agree. People have seemed to give him a lot of the benefit of the doubt where they give other guys all kinds of grief (JP for instance). I think it may stem from those first few years when his O-line was so terrible that they were setting records for sacks allowed.
He also was never really hyped up like some of these guys are. Alex Smith kind of has the same thing going in SF (though he's actually playing pretty well) - a 1st overall qb that people don't really talk about.
And again, wow, the '02 draft with Carr and Harrington ended up being a bomb. Out of the top 5 picks - 4 busts - Carr, Harrington, Mike Williams, and Ryan Simms.