Even with all the noise and action in an NFL game, the blowup was impossible to miss. After Derek Carr was sacked with a little over 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter, he got up and yelled something in the direction of Erik McCoy.
The veteran center was having none of it and demonstratively yelled in the direction of his QB, who appeared to fire back. James Hurst ran interference to prevent any physical altercation, but it was an ugly moment in an ugly game that ended in a less-than-representative 28-6 scoreline.
“I think if you’re ever in a highly competitive environment and things aren’t going the way that you want it to go, yea, there’s sometimes that you get frustrated, you lash out a little bit," head coach Dennis Allen said after the game, downplaying the moment as any major issue. "I’m glad that both of them had the balls to at least stand up and fight, you know what I mean? ... Hell, my wife and I argue. It happens, so let’s not make too much of it.”
It's a fair point. This is hardly the first time a quarterback and center have gotten into a heated exchange on the field. There's one well-documented moment of Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday getting into it on the sideline of a game, which we know because Manning was actually mic'd up for the game.
What made this instance so surprising, though, was where it came from in a player that could be described as among the most mild-mannered you'll find in McCoy. Even Carr himself had commented on that fact during training camp, noting that many centers he'd worked with in the past were often "sore and agitated individuals," whereas McCoy was the opposite.
Both players spoke after the game, though neither would go into exactly what was said. The pair walked to their respective areas on the sideline in the aftermath, with Alvin Kamara, Lynn Bowden Jr. and others speaking to McCoy in an apparent effort to cool him down. Carr sat with the quarterbacks before working his way over and sitting between McCoy and guard Cesar Ruiz prior to the next offensive series. The pair said they hashed things out and they were good to go. Carr wasn't sacked again in the game.
“I think it was just frustration," McCoy said. "He was tired of getting hit. I was tired of him getting hit, and it was just, I lost my cool. I did. And like I said, Derek Carr, I’m sorry. We’re good. I love him. He loves me. We’re on the same page.”
The pair had what was described as a "kumbaya moment" in the training room after the game. Carr likened it to arguments he's had with his older brothers. Both players shot down any idea that it was something that had bubbled out of the locker room in any way.
"There really is nothing wrong. We had a moment. I’ve had some of those moments in my 10 years a lot of times with a coach, with a teammate, somebody, and I always learned that you always circle back, you make right and you keep going," Carr said. "But that kind of stuff happens all the time at practice, I’m not saying with me and him, I’m saying just with teammates. That stuff happens, and you just make sure you always circle back, make it right, and we did that. And so I love Erik, I love Erik to death. But I would be completely honest with you, there is no problem.”
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The questions will continue to be asked around a team that is back on the winning track but hasn't been able to sustain success since Dennis Allen took the reins as head coach prior to last season. Only once in that span has the team was more than two consecutive games, but it will likely need to if it hopes to win the NFC South and make the postseason for the first time since Drew Brees retired following the 2020 season.
There have been some clear rumblings, most notably in the form of tweets from Michael Thomas that appeared to be directed at Carr during a Week 13 loss to the Lions, with Thomas on IR. The wide receiver's account has since been deactivated and his head coach said that any discussion on the subject would be kept internal. There have also been documented and discussed blowups from Carr, one coming in the direction of Pete Carmichael during a loss to the Texans, then another directed toward Chris Olave during a loss to the Jaguars. Carr said in the aftermath of that game that he needed to "chill out," and was making a concerted effort to avoid displaying that type of negative energy.
Still, there's no hiding the crowd noise, with ample boos and empty seats clearly visible during the past two games, even with the Saints leading wire to wire in a win over the Panthers.
"I think everybody ... in that locker room and everybody in the city of New Orleans needed the Saints to win," Allen said, "and so I was glad we were able to do that.”
The Saints (6-7) are now in a three-way tie for the NFC South lead with the Bucs and Falcons, with a game in hand against both teams. The divisional race could come down to those head to head matchups in the final two weeks of the season, though the Saints will likely have to take care of business the next two weeks against the Giants and Rams for that to be the case.