Katherine TerrellESPN Staff Writer5 Minute Reading
Derek Carr left the game in the 3rd quarter after a sack
Derek Carr was sacked and went to the locker room in the third quarter with an apparent injury.
Carr was not ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but did not practice Wednesday with an AC joint sprain. Jameis Winston took snaps in his place as Carr watched.
“I’m going to do everything I can to be with my guys, and if I can play, I’ll play,” Carr said Wednesday. “If I physically can’t play, then I can’t play. But if I’m out there, that means no fear of getting injured again, no fear of … helping the football team. I do the everything I can do to go out there but not really hurt the team at the same time.”
Saints coach Dennis Allen said Monday that Carr will be evaluated throughout the week before the team makes a decision and stood by that stance Wednesday.
“He’s feeling better now,” said Allen. “We’ll check on him to see where he is tomorrow and hopefully we can get him back there. … I’m not ordering anything.”
He added: “That’s not the situation anybody wants to be in … without your starting quarterback. It complicates things a little bit and yet we feel confident about Jameis being able to come in there and help lead us. to victory. If he is called upon to do so, we will come out and play well.”
Carr said that he is still confident in his ability to play on Sunday even if he misses the entire week, but he won’t play if he doesn’t think it will be good for the team.
“I’m not saying I don’t need practice, and everyone needs practice reps, but sometimes situations are different, right? And especially at the time, you want as many reps as you can get,” said Carr. “There are things I do with the trainers and there are things I do to … see where we are.
“But, if I don’t throw a ball all week — who knows if that’s going to happen — but if it does, then I’ll still feel confident going into Sunday. … team in a bad spot with a roster spot. When I’m out there, that means I feel confident I’m going to be good.
Carr said that whether he will play or not will be a joint decision between him and the coaches based on his performance.
“It’s a little bit of both,” he said. “You have to consider what you see, and they have to consider what I can do in their eyes, you know? Yeah, I’m playing. I’m going out now.’ They probably have other words than that. So, you have to work together. DA and I talk and we’re on the same page…. It’s about winning and it’s about the team. But if I feel like I can help that we’re going to win and I’m confident we’ll get to it and all that stuff, then I’ll go out there.”
Carr said that he first feared the worst after being hit in the third quarter of the Saints’ 18-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. He lay on the turf before going to the medical tent with the athletic trainers, then going to the hospital to be checked out and receive X-rays.
“For me, that’s a big deal,” Carr said. “That obviously meant something wasn’t right. … There were some things you could have done so you wouldn’t have been there, but at that point I couldn’t even hold my arm up to throw a football. It was a tough moment. So , you’re scared. Obviously, you’re human. You’re scared of everything. But I’m just trusting God, that I’m going to be okay, whether it’s bad news or good news. I know I’m going to be OK no matter what.”
Carr only played two regular season games in his NFL career due to injury. He broke his fibula at the end of the 2016 season and missed one game of the 2017 season with a transverse process fracture in his back.
“I take a lot of pride in not losing football games no matter what,” Carr said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, but at the same time, looking ahead, how long it takes and everything, you have to be smart. That’s what we talk about with DA. … I’m getting ready to prepare .I prepare to prepare to play, like Jameis, like Taysom [Hill]. We are all getting ready to do whatever our role is and hopefully it will work out where I can play. But for me, let’s just keep it up in the air for now.”