The New Orleans Saints didn't find their way into the postseason, but they did find something over the latter stages of their season.
That was the Derek Carr they were hoping to see all along, with the veteran closing out a stellar final month of the season with a 4-touchdown performance that will likely quiet a majority of the critics, as Bobby Hebert explained in his postgame rant following a 48-17 beatdown of the Falcons in Week 18.
Listen to Bobby Hebert's full rant in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"Derek Carr is the man. What? What are you talking about? No, Derek Carr is the man," Hebert said. "I’m going to tell you why he’s the man. It’s always what have you done for me lately."
And all Carr has done over the final four games of the season is complete 75% of his passes (96-128) for 998 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception. The Saints went 3-1 in that span, with a frustrating loss in L.A. the only blemish, albeit a significant one. The Saints needed to be perfect to reach the postseason, instead they missed out to two other 9-8 teams due to tiebreakers.
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Still, there's no denying the impressive resurgence as Carr got healthier and clearly more comfortable in the offense and with the playmakers around him.
"You can hate on Derek Carr, whatever you want ... you’ve got to jump on board with Derek Carr, because ain’t nothing changing," Hebert continued. "What he’s done in December to close out the season … but what he did to finish the season, again, that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact. You might say Hebert that’s your opinion, no, this is all the NFL quarterbacks. He’s No. 1 in completion percentage and he has the third-best passer rating."
The Saints will enter the offseason with a myriad of questions to answer, but it sure seems like the QB1 debate is settled.