Saints quarterback Derek Carr could still miss time with a shoulder injury classified as an AC joint sprain, but head coach Dennis Allen was clear in his assessment as he updated the status of his signal-caller Monday afternoon.
The team and Carr got fortunate after a bit hit that left Carr on the field, the 11th such time he's been sacked in three games.
"I think we dodged a bullet there in terms of anything of real significance," Allen said. "I think we’re kind of saying week to week, but again, he felt better today than he did yesterday, so we’re not making any decisions today. We’re not ruling anything out. We'll see where as he’s at as the week goes on."
Allen wouldn't specify the grade of the injury, which is based on the amount of ligament damage that occurred with the injury, commonly referred to as a separated shoulder. The higher the grade, the longer and more arduous the recovery will be.
The week-to-week label would seem to indicate that Carr's injury is on the lower end of that spectrum, and there's been no indication he'll require surgery. Allen said Carr was feeling better on Monday than he was after the game Sunday, having rejoined the team after being evaluated at an area hospital. Carr's return timeline will come down to a few factors, including pain tolerance, but also when he fully regains the functionality in his throwing shoulder that is necessary to play quarterback at the NFL level.
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"When he’s healthy enough that he can go out and perform and do the things that he needs to do to give our team a chance to win, then he’ll be back in there," Allen said. "And so I can’t tell you when that’s going to be. People heal at different rates and there’s been players that have played with this injury in one week. There’s been players that it takes a couple weeks. So we’ll just have to wait and see.”
If Carr can't go in Week 4, it'll likely be Jameis Winston taking the reins for a start against his former team in the Bucs. Regardless of who is out there taking the snap, Allen concedes that pass protection has been a major issue and has to be better. Winston was sacked once as he played the majority of the second half, and the Saints are currently averaging four sacks allowed per game. New Orleans is one of 9 teams to have already surrendered double-digit sacks, and 12 is tied for third most in the league.
After hosting Bucs, the Saints hit the road for back-to-back weeks, first against the Patriots, then the Texans.
“I think [protection] needs to be better and for whatever reason we’ve got to figure that out, particularly early in the game," Allen said in his post-game comments. "So that’s something we’ve got to improve and we’ve got to get better at. We knew this was a team that could rush the passer.”