Derek Carr vows to be a 'psychopath' as he returns for Saints. Will that be enough?

The New Orleans Saints are confident things will get better with Derek Carr under center. But will it be anywhere near enough to get this team back to the level where the conversation can get serious again?

The Saints starting QB is back from the oblique injury that cost him three games and says he's as close to 100% as he can be as he does. Still, he's making no promises beyond top-end effort.

“I am no savior," Carr said after his return to practice. "There’s only been one of those and that is not me. ... I am here to be a great leader and to be a great teammate and to do my job to the best of my ability, and do I feel confident in what I can do? Absolutely. I feel confident in what I can do. I feel confident in what I can bring to our team, and that’s exciting, right, but to save us or anything like that. That’s not me."

What Carr can bring is a shot in the arm to an offense that hasn't looked like anything resembling a winning unit throughout the majority of its past three games. The Saints did put up 27 points during a wild second quarter in a loss to the Bucs that featured multiple turnovers and a punt return TD, but they've totaled just 16 points over the other 11 quarters Carr missed, excluding a 2-point safety. The lone touchdown came on the final offensive drive against the Broncos, a drive led by Jake Haener in relief well after the game was decided.

The Saints turned to rookie Spencer Rattler in Carr's absence, a player the team thinks highly of and still has faith can develop despite the negative results. Still, the team will turn back to Haener as the gameday backup when Carr returns, as they did over the first five weeks of the season.

“[Rattler is a] young, developmental quarterback that I’m encouraged and excited about, but not quite there yet," head coach Dennis Allen said. "You know, he needs a little more time in the oven, you know what I mean, a little more time to grow, a little more time to develop and that’ll come."

Carr echoed his head coach and while admitting it was frustrating to watch his team fall to six straight losses as he watched helplessly from the sidelines, the experience should prove invaluable for the young QB down the road.

"I thought he played great ... for a young guy," Carr said. "Does he have a lot of things to learn, absolutely. You know, we knew that, you know, as soon as they said he was gonna start, we knew, you know, everybody knew that there was things that he just doesn’t know yet because he just hasn’t experienced them, and so having your first experience, getting a couple starts in a row under your belt, you know, that’s only gonna bode well for him."

The Saints will now be putting a pin in the Rattler experience, and we'll have to wait and see whether he gets another shot down the road. During that process the team's medical staff was cautious with Carr, something it sounds like they learned last year was necessary. The QB referenced the Week 3 shoulder injury a year ago, and implied that the team allowed him to grit through an injury that affected his mechanics. This time around they knew that couldn't be allowed to happen, regardless of what the player said. Carr also reached out to Saints legend Drew Brees, who dealt with a similar oblique injury during his career, and the biggest advice was to make sure the throwing mechanics didn't suffer while trying to speed things up as he went through the rehab process.

There were multiple throwing sessions during the process and the window was 3-4 weeks before a return to game activity. Carr said it wasn't until late in the week prior to the game against the Chargers that he was back to feeling like he could do what he needed to do. It was one of the more frustrating injuries he's experienced because it wasn't significant pain, moreso just a lack of functionality when it came to throwing a football. Doctors made it clear to him that trying to play through the injury too early would likely end his season.

"It was a lot of people taking care of me, from me," Carr said. "Because they learned last year that, especially with the injuries and things I had, that I would play through anything and they learned that you may be able to do this, but you’ve got to be able to do what you’ve got to do. ... I thought they did a great job of making sure I could get back and be ready and not have a setback.”

The key to a successful return is getting through the rest of the week healthy, but things went well on Wednesday in limited action. As Carr gets back to full, he'll stare down a scuffling Panthers team that he's already beaten three times in his Saints career and does not appear primed to turn their fate around after a 1-7 start. Carolina has already benched former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young once this season in favor of Andy Dalton, but they turned back to Young last week after Dalton suffered a thumb injury in a car accident. Head coach Dave Canales said they'll stick with Young this week, meaning there'll be no revenge arc -- at least not on the opening drive -- for the former Saints QB.

Still, that's not what the Saints are worried about. The first focus is making sure everyone is on the same page and pulling the rope in the same direction. That's something that Allen wanted to find out when he had his monthly dinner with team captains earlier this week. They assured him, as relayed by Allen and Carr, that while there's frustration stemming from the Saints' longest losing streak since 2005, it's not for lack of effort or care or belief. They believe it's a product of circumstance, and one they will break their way if the attention is kept in the right place. Carr said he's been a part of those situations before, where a few "bad apples" can swing the locker room if they get a handful of people on their side.

That's not the case this year, he says. He's still committed to winning, the team is still committed to winning. All that's left to do is start winning.

"What have we got, nine weeks that are promised to us … and there’s just a full commitment just from myself to our guys, when I get back, I’m gonna be a psychopath," Carr said. "I’m gonna be crazy about the details and everything, because we only get one shot at this. ... I don’t have anything except I’ll promise great effort. I’ll promise long nights and early mornings to make sure that we’re at our best, so I’m looking forward to getting back and excited to be back on the practice field.”

Featured Image Photo Credit: USAT Images