Carr not only issue - An Article by Jim Gazzolo

The Saints’ problems don’t begin with Derek Carr nor do they end with him.

Carr was brought to New Orleans in order to take the Saints deep into the playoffs. At the very least the quarterback was expected to guide the club to a division title.

The NFC South is so bad that still might happen, but it won’t be as easy as expected. The Saints are just 3-4 but only one game behind the Atlanta Falcons, so it might not be the best of starts but it is far from a lost season.

The problem is, the team had much higher aspirations than just winning a bad division. Fans believed Carr was the missing piece to a puzzle that would lead to a long playoff run.

For that to happen a lot will have to change with the Saints, including Carr playing better. 

While he is throwing for big yardage the Saints are having trouble finishing off drives. Last week in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Carr threw for 301 yards. The week before he threw for 305.

Carr also threw 105 passes in those two games, but only two of them went into the end zone. That has been the major issue with the New Orleans offense.

Kicking field goals can’t replace touchdowns and the Saints struggle to score TDs. Their offense is dreadful in the red zone. 

To their credit, they did score two TDs in the fourth quarter against the Jaguars, but a dropped pass in the end zone by tight end Foster Moreau ended a late comeback short of victory. However, five times the Saints reached the red zone, and only twice did they score touchdowns.

That is a problem. 

“When you have all this star power and it’s not producing on the field, it sucks,” said Saints center Erik McCoy.

It doesn’t help that Carr was seen yelling at receiver Chris Olave after the two misconnected on a pass early in the fourth quarter. It was a bad look. 

“There were some things that happened today that led to some pretty big negative plays that should never happened and I think that’s where my frustration came from,” Carr said after the game.

It doesn’t help that the defense had a late-game meltdown after playing well most of the season.

Playcalling has also been an issue with the Saints, who seem to get way too conservative the closer they get to the goal line.

Carr hasn’t been great but if the Saints are to turn this around he won’t be alone in getting things fixed.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese athletics. He is the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles.