Derek Carr will be back for the New Orleans Saints in Week 9. Carr’s return to the field comes in the nick of time for the 2-6 team. The Saints desperately need to stop the bleeding on a season that’s increasingly looking lost. With a game coming up against the 1-7 Carolina Panthers, there’s every reason to believe that Carr will get the Saints back on track.
Anything after the Saints game is a question mark because this is a flawed team. The Saints are also looking up in the NFC South standings at the 5-3 Atlanta Falcons and 4-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Still, this is far from a juggernaut division, and with games against the Falcons and Bucs remaining on the schedule, the Saints have to believe they can still make up some ground.
It all starts with a win over the Panthers in Week 9, though, and even though Carr has cautioned Saints fans that he’s not going to be “the savior” for this season, he will give them enough juice to take out Carolina.
“I am no savior. There’s only been one of those, and that is not me,” Carr said on Wednesday (per ESPN), the same day head coach Dennis Allen said that he expects Carr to be ready to finally return from a left oblique strain he suffered in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I am here to be a great leader and to be a great teammate and to do my job to the best of my ability. And do I feel confident in what I can do? Absolutely. I feel confident in what I can do. I feel confident in what I can bring to our team. And that’s exciting, right? But to save us or anything like that, that’s not me; I’m going to come in and do what my guys expect me to do. Bring energy, bring effort, and be a great teammate. Encourage our guys, get everybody on the same page, lock in the details, and hold each other accountable.”
Carr can be a leader, but he can also be more than that against the Panthers. He can be a game-winning quarterback for the Saints, who desperately need it.
Carr can help the Saints find the end zone again.
It has been an absolutely miserable stretch for the Saints offensively. They’ve lost six straight in large part because their offense has been anemic. Their offense has scored only three touchdowns in the past three games. The Saints lost 51-27 to the Buccaneers, 33-10 to the Denver Broncos, and 26-8 to the Los Angeles Chargers.
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That’s apparently what happens when you have to start rookie Spencer Rattler, who completed just 59-of-99 passes in this stretch for 571 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He averaged a 70.7 quarterback rating and just 5.8 yards per pass.
Carr’s presence will immediately help the Saints offense push the ball down the field to Chris Olave and even Alvin Kamara.
Carr’s presence will open things up for Alvin Kamara
Speaking of Kamara, after rushing for 362 yards and five touchdowns in the first few games of the season, he’s largely been held in check. That’s undoubtedly because the Saints haven’t given him any support through the air, so defenses have been able to load the box up on him. He hasn’t scored a touchdown in two games and has one rushing touchdown in the past three games that Rattler started.
Kamara has been involved in the passing game, with 17 catches over the last three games for 93 yards, but he’s only found the end zone once as a receiver this season, and that was with Carr at quarterback.
Expect Kamara to get back to his box score-loading ways with Carr back in at quarterback against the Panthers.
The Panthers are the perfect team for Carr to come back to
The Panthers are a terrible team, and if Carr has got to ease himself back into game shape, he couldn’t have picked a better team to return against. They’re giving up 232.9 yards per game through the air, which is the eighth-worst mark in the NFL. They also allow 33.9 points per game, which is the worst in the NFL by far. The next-worst scoring defense belongs to the Dallas Cowboys, who give up 28.3 points per game.
Carr should be able to “cook” against the Panthers, and if he’s feeling rusty, all he has to do is keep the offense on track and allow the playmakers around him in Kamara and Olave to do the rest.
More than anything, he’ll bring some leadership to a Saints team that desperately needs it to try to turn this thing around.
“When I get back, I’m going to be a psychopath. I’m going to be crazy about the details and everything because we only get one shot at this, you know?” Carr said. “I don’t have any promises. I don’t have anything except I’ll promise great effort. I’ll promise long nights and early mornings to make sure that we’re at our best. I’m looking forward to getting back and excited to finally be back on the practice field.”