Going into 2023, Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints appeared to be the best team in the NFC South. At least on paper. Not that that was saying much given how weak the NFC South looked, but some people did expect the Saints to be a good team this season.
Thus far, that hasn’t been the case.
While New Orleans hasn’t been terrible, it hasn’t been great either, as it fell to 3-4 following its loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night.
On Friday, Fox Sports analyst Skip Bayless pointed the finger at Derek Carr for the Saints’ struggles.
Carr threw a pivotal pick-six in the red zone on Thursday evening and also completed just one pass in 14 attempts on third downs.
Those obviously aren’t the types of things you would expect from a capable starting quarterback.
Bayless also criticized Carr for his Week 6 sideline blowup with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, with Bayless essentially accusing Carr of passing the buck.
Basically, Bayless does not feel that the Saints can advance very far with Carr under center, and he may actually have a point judging Carr’s career.
Carr-led teams have only made two playoff appearances (one of which he missed due to a broken leg) throughout his decade-long NFL career, and he is still without a postseason win.
What’s more, the 32-year-old has only posted winning records twice since entering the league back in 2014.
Now, to be fair, Carr spent the first nine seasons of his NFL tenure playing for the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders, who made only made the playoffs twice since 2003 (Carr was the driving force behind both of those postseason appearances). So, obviously, it hasn’t all been Carr’s fault.
But you know how the NFL works by now. When things aren’t going right, you point the finger one of two places: either the head coach, or the quarterback. So it’s no surprise that Carr is getting hit with a whole lot of criticism this season.
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