New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr's frustration with a struggling offense boiled over several times in Thursday night's 31-24 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, with the signal-caller barking at several teammates and coaches.
"The slow start," Carr said when asked what caused the outbursts, per the official transcript. "I have been showing my emotions a little too much on my sleeve. I have got to kind of chill out and that's me holding myself accountable because that's not going to help anything. Just trying to be a calming influence in those moments, especially during moments of heightened frustration -- I can be that presence to calm everybody down."
The most notable Carr flare-up came early in the fourth quarter, with the Saints trailing by seven. Wideout Chris Olave stopped his route, and the QB sailed the pass six yards out of bounds. Prime Video cameras caught Carr vociferously snarling, "What are you doing?" as he came to the sideline, then later had a discussion with the receiver.
"I wasn't talking to Chris, like the past two weeks I was just talking in general," Carr said when asked about the exchange. "There were some things that happened today that led to some pretty big negative plays that should never have happened and I think that's where my frustration came from."
The Saints' offense has been a mess this season. It's been held under 21 points in five of seven games, struggled mightily in the red zone and has no fluidity in the play-calling. Checkdowns to Alvin Kamara have been the best plays in recent weeks.
With the level of skill-position talent, from Olave to Michael Thomas to Rashid Shaheed to Kamara, New Orleans shouldn't find it difficult to put up points. At certain times, it's as if the Saints offense can't decide what it wants to be, and everything turns to mud.
Thursday night, it was ubiquitous mud through three quarters. The Saints couldn't sustain drives. When they did, the offense bogged down in the red zone. Special teams botched plays. The defense gave up big gains early.
Coach Dennis Allen cited "inconsistency" multiple times in his postgame news conference as the reason his club dropped to 3-4. Part of those inconsistencies is the lack of chemistry between the QB and his WRs.
"I think that's frustrating," Allen said. "That is probably one of the things that I'm most frustrated about is just that part of that inconsistency. We have got to...somehow, someway, we have to get those guys on the same page. There's a lot that goes into that."
It wasn't until the Saints went up-tempo in the fourth quarter after getting down, 24-9, following a Carr pick-six that the offense moved the ball. Even then, however, there were two three-and-outs and a final red-zone failure to ice the game.
"I think there's some things that he did really well," Allen said of Carr. "I think there was a little bit of inconsistency. I think that overall is -- that's part of the group. I think each and every one of us individually needs to be more consistent and I think if we're able to do that, then collectively as a group we'll be more consistent."
The inconsistencies, particularly on offense, have been evident through seven games. They could threaten to derail the entire season if Carr and Co. don't correct them swiftly.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to fix it, and I know our guys will do everything in their power," Carr said of the poor play. "It's not malicious or coming from a bad place. It sucks right now. We are finding everything that sucks right now. We are going to point it out and call it out and work on that to get better as leaders -- that's our job whether it's really good or really bad. I tell guys all the time we're not playing the scoreboard, we're playing against our standard. We have to make sure, not only throughout the week we have to meet that standard, but on gameday we have to meet that standard. I'm okay if a guy gets beat or if they make a play, they're going to make plays, but there are some things in football that are completely controllable that I think we can do better."
Despite the 3-4 record, the Saints remain in the hunt in an up-for-grabs NFC South.
