By MIKE HERNDON
“At least we don’t have to watch Derek Carr anymore,” the woman in front of me said as we exited the Superdome last Sunday. “He is not an NFL quarterback.”
She wore Saints colors, with a prominent fleur-de-lis logo, so I must presume she considers herself a Saints fan. Never mind essentially cheering the injury of a man who puts his wellbeing on the line for our entertainment every week, she can’t be much of one if she’s looking forward to what comes next.
Maybe she’d been passed out during the fourth quarter of the game we’d just left. If not, she’d have seen Jameis Winston badly miss an open Chris Olave twice with the game on the line in the fourth quarter after Carr left with a likely concussion and shoulder and back injuries. And she would know that there are worse things than having Derek Carr as your quarterback.
It’s no secret that Carr’s first year in New Orleans has been a disappointment, particularly considering the unseemly $150 million the Saints are paying him over four years. Sunday’s 33-28 loss to the Lions leaves the Saints 5-7 and a game back in a division that, judging by its rosters, they should be leading comfortably.
But Derek Carr remains the Saints’ best hope of winning the NFC South and making the playoffs this year – even if many Saints fans have written him off.
Another man sitting in the row in front of me during the game, who I can only presume is Taysom Hill’s father, loudly booed every time Hill came off the field and Carr returned. “Why?” he yelled in a deep baritone. “Why are you bringing Carr back in?”
I can tell you why: Because Hill can’t throw. Not at an NFL level. And anyone with eyes knows it. He is great at what he does. He’s strong as an ox and fearless as a ballcarrier. He is made for the short-yardage and wildcat plays for which the Saints routinely use him. But he, to use the words of my friend on the Superdome exit ramp, is not an NFL quarterback.
Winston is, but he’s a very flawed one. We all remember 2019, when he threw for 5,100 yards with the Buccaneers, but we also remember the 30 interceptions he threw that season. In his most extensive action with the Saints, seven games in 2021, he averaged 167 yards a game and completed 59 percent of his passes.
He threw for 858 yards in three games in 2022, but he also had five interceptions against four touchdowns.
You either let him fling it and live with the resulting turnovers, or keep him reined in and watch your offense get stuck in the mud.
And yet some Jameis apologist on Twitter, or X or whatever it’s called now, got so offended that he blocked me when I laughed at his assertion that it’s time for Jameis SZN once he gets some starter’s reps in practice.
A week of reps isn’t going to do much to help a quarterback who can’t hit a receiver sitting between zones, without a defender within a couple yards of him, and staring him in the face from 10 yards away.
There is still plenty of time for the Saints to turn this around and make the playoffs. They’re only a game back. But some of their fans seem to have given up. There were tons of empty seats in the Superdome on Sunday, and many of the others were filled with Lions fans. There were at least as many “Let’s go Lions” chants as “Who Dat?”
The season-ticket holder sitting next to me during the game said it was the worst it’s been all year and surmised that a lackluster loss to the Falcons the week before may have been a tipping point. Sunday’s loss was New Orleans’ third straight, and the fans sense a once promising season sliding down the tubes.
Thankfully, however, not all Saints have given up. There was still the guy a few rows down standing and yelling “Super … Bowl” every time the Saints scored (“He does it every week,” said the season-ticket holder). There was still the guy dressed as Santa Claus calling for noise when New Orleans’ defense was on the field. There was still the guy in the beer line who laughed when I told him about Hill’s “dad” and proclaimed loudly that Hill is “a gadget player.”
Yes, the season is starting to slip away, but there’s still time to salvage it. Saints fans need to be careful what they wish for.
Categories: NFL
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