Saints quarterback Derek Carr was struggling against the Chiefs even before he took a hard hit from defensive back Chamarri Conner on Monday night. This hit not only ended Carr’s game but also dashed New Orleans’ hopes of making a comeback.
Carr hurt his oblique from the hit with 9 1/2 minutes left and did not come back for the 26-13 loss.
He passed for 185 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception, but a lot of those yards came from a 43-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed. Overall, the experienced Raiders quarterback found it tough against the Kansas City defense, completing 18 of 28 passes while getting sacked once and hit eight more times.
“It wasn’t even the hit, honestly,” Carr said about his injury. “It was just when I dropped back and torqued to throw.”
Carr plans to have an MRI on Tuesday to see how serious his oblique issue is.
“I asked if there was anything we could do about it and there was not enough time,” he said.
Conner came through almost untouched right up the middle.
The Saints were down 23-13 and faced a fourth-and-8 at the Kansas City 41 when Carr dropped back to pass, and Conner came rushing in. Carr threw a pass deep down the New Orleans sideline as he was hit, but it went right through the hands of undrafted rookie Mason Tipton, resulting in an incompletion that ended the drive.
Carr immediately grabbed his oblique as he stood up. After a quick check on the sideline, he went to the locker room.
It didn’t help that he was playing behind a weakened offensive line due to injuries.
“Any time you’ve got new guys playing next to each other there is a learning curve. That’s just a fact,” Carr said.
