The starting QB went down and stayed down, and the entire Saints fanbase held its collective breath.
How bad is it? How long will he be out? What comes next? Those are all questions that almost impossible to answer coming off the field, particularly in the case of Derek Carr who was taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated after a hard hit by a Packers defender in what turned into a late collapse and 18-17 loss.
The injury has since been reported to be an AC sprain and isn't expected to be season-ending. But what does it all mean? Dr. David Elias, an orthopedic surgeon with OrthoLA joined Tommy Tucker on WWL Monday morning to share insight. Dr. Elias did not treat Derek Carr personally.
"An AC sprain is a pretty common injury we see in football, usually caused by a direct impact," Dr. Elias said. "Either you fall on the shoulder, you get hit at the shoulder or you can fall on an outstretched hand. It’s a sprain or a tear of the ligament that connects the acromion to the clavicle, which is the collarbone."
In the end it's classified as a separation, not a dislocation, and would be more colloquially referred to as a separated shoulder. It's an injury that can be reliably diagnosed by X-ray, with the doctors assessing the grade of the injury based on the amount of ligament damage and degree of separation.
Carr will likely undergo an MRI to rule out any additional injuries, such as a rotator cuff tear, which are uncommon but can't be diagnosed by X-ray.
“If it’s a Grade 1 sprain which is probably the more common, Grade 1 or 2 sprain, we just put him in a sling, let things calm down and then get him into therapy pretty quick," Elias said, "get him moving pretty quick and then back to doing their sporting activity."
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Doctors will have already determined the severity of the injury, but it is yet to be reported as of Monday. A Grade 1 or even 2 sprain would be optimal in terms of a speedy recovery and return. Grades 3 and beyond can require surgery, in some cases requiring a full year recovery. Doctors will typically prefer to treat such injuries non-surgically.
Elias says the average recovery times for such an injury will be along the lines of:
- Grade 1: 2 weeks
- Grade 2: 4 weeks
- Grade 3 (no surgery): 6 weeks
"With [Carr], what makes it a little bit harder is his position requires him to throw," Elias said. "So a baseball pitcher or an overhead athlete or a quarterback, it may be a little bit longer than I just said just because of the nature of what they do.”
The good news is that, as Elias says, the injury is not typically one that will linger. Players are usually held out until they can play mostly pain-free and have fully recovered from a strength perspective. If that's the case, the Saints will likely turn to backup Jameis Winston for a Week 4 matchup with the Bucs at the Superdome and potentially beyond. The Saints face the Patriots and Texans on the road the following two weeks.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. David Elias in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.