One of the perks of being a 10-year veteran in the NFL: Nothing really catches you by surprise anymore.
That's true on the field for Saints quarterback Derek Carr, but also off of it in the fan/analysis universe, where every win is met with elation and every loss is met with equally intense doomsday forecasting for the franchise.
“I’m sure some of the young guys were probably shocked by it, but at this point in my career I’m not shocked by it at all," Carr said. "I know who I am. I know what I’m capable of doing and I’m extremely confident in that."
Things seemed to come to a bit of a head after Week 7, with the Saints offense continuing to move the ball but bogging down in the red zone. The Saints had lost four of five games, with the latter two both ending with four failed heaves to the end zone in situations where a touchdown would tie the game.
Carr had over 300 yards passing in both games, losses to the Texans and Jaguars, but it took more than 50 passing attempts to get there. The performances were picked apart, particularly a play where Carr came off the field shouting at Chris Olave, who conceded that he didn't run a route correctly. The noise was loud, but so was the conviction within the building that things could and would turn for the better soon. The messaging was consistent, it just needed to make it to the field.
That was exactly the case in a 38-27 victory over the Colts that featured red zone efficiency, big plays and third down execution.
"I thought we were getting better and I still think there’s room to improve and I still think the guys’ mindset is, yea, cool, we won. Awesome," Carr continued. "Now, how do we get better?"
For Carr it was another 300-yard passing performance, this time on just xxx attempts. It was the first time a Saints quarterback had logged three consecutive 300-plus-yard passing games since Drew Brees at the end of the 2015 season. For the offense as a whole, it was the first time since 2018 they'd logged three consecutive games of 400-plus yards.
The next challenge for the Saints will be proving that the performance in Indy was the rule and not the exception. The Saints had similar vibes following a 34-0 beatdown of the Patriots in Week 5, only to turn around and lose those frustrating games to the Jaguars and the Texans. The Saints will get a pair of backup quarterbacks the next two weeks in Tyson Bagent and, presumably, Josh Dobbs to feast on. But it's likely all eyes remain on the offensive side of the ball.
However that goes, the message is clear from Carr.
"We will always gladly take supporters," Carr said. "And anyone who wants to hate on us, give them a thumbs up and say thank you. But my process is not gonna change.”
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MORE FROM DEREK CARR
On what surprised him most about Taysom Hill as a teammate
“The one thing I’ve been surprised by, he’s so violent and angry the way he plays, but he’s always smiling. So that’s the one thing that surprised me. I thought he was going to be some like, meathead, just tough, which, he is tough. I mean, like, angry all the time in the game, like Taysom is Taysom all the time.
"So that was my surprise. What I saw in the tape when I was studying to come here and do all this, what I saw was a dynamic player that obviously we know what he can do running the ball, but I saw something in the pass game where I was like, I really think there are some things that I do well that I think you could do and we could do well together. And so to see him step out and have some career things catching the ball and things like that, that’s cool for me, too, because it let’s me know that maybe I could be a scout one day.”
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On spreading the ball around
The Saints currently have five players with 20-plus receptions on the season, and three separate wide receivers with more than 400-yards receiving.
“Just the way I plan, I’m just gonna spread ‘em out and leave it up to the coaches to put guys in position and hopefully I can read ‘em all right and get it to the guy when they’re supposed to get it and all those things. But that’s just me playing quarterback. If you guys want to get mad, go talk to them, but I’m going to read things out and throw it where it’s supposed to go. … However it plays out, we have to be able to play that way. That was as a quarterback you can be free in the decisions that you make.”
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On Michael Thomas' impact
“I think he’s shown what we saw in training camp. He was coming back off the injuries and the rehab and all that, and Mike is — we’ve all been so happy with Mike and what he’s brought, his mindset that he’s brought in the building. Everyone is just super pleased with Mike, the mentality that he has. And me and Mike talk, for sure after every game. There’s things, we think the same way, hey, we’ve got to do this, this and this in practice this week. The communication with me and Mike has been great and like everybody in the building has said, they’ve just been so happy with the way he’s come in and approached things and he’s been super productive for us.”
