New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr on his best stretch of play this season entering Sunday’s game against Atlanta
Derek Carr’s most effective run of quarterback performance this season has gone a long way toward helping the New Orleans Saints maintain their postseason aspirations heading into Sunday’s regular-season finale.
The Saints (8-8) have won three of their previous four games going into kickoff versus the Falcons (7-9) at noon in the Caesars Superdome. Carr has been playing at his best, completing 92 of 126 passes (73 percent) for 853 yards and 10 touchdowns with two interceptions. Despite being terminated five times, he has not faltered.
Not to be underplayed is the fact that Carr possibly has experienced his healthiest four-game stretch.
“He’s probably as healthy as he’s been in a while, and so, you feel his accuracy in his passing, you feel more comfortable in the pocket,” Coach Dennis Allen said Monday. “Obviously, I think the protection has improved, and that also leads to him being a little bit more comfortable in the pocket.
“There are still some times I think we need to do a little better job of being on the same page with everything. But for the most part we’ve been on the same page with what we’re seeing in the passing game.”
That cohesion has contributed to better ball protection; in the first 12 games, Carr had 11 touchdown passes and six interceptions, was sacked 24 times and fumbled six times.
“He’s done a good job of protecting the football for the most part, and that’s the No. 1 stat in football, is the turnover-takeaway
ratio,” Allen said. “I think it was a big part of the win (Sunday against Tampa Bay, when the Saints were plus-4). That’s one of
the things that we continue to preach, is make sure that we’re taking care of the ball offensively and when we’re in the return
units and special teams, and being able to take the ball away when you’re on defense or in the coverage units on special teams.”
SEWELL SEASON OVER: The worst fears for linebacker Nephi Sewell were confirmed: torn ACL, and he’s out for an extended period of time.
“That’s going to cause him to have to have surgery so obviously, that’s a long recovery process,” Allen said.
Sewell’s main impact play came on special teams, when he forced a fumble on a punt that was recovered and returned for a touchdown by teammate D’Marco Jackson.
PADDED PRACTICE:
Ten days separate their Thursday night matchup with the Rams and Sunday’s matchup with
Last Wednesday, the Saints sneaked in a padded practice in Tampa Bay. There’s no indication on whether they’ll do it again on Wednesday.
“I thought it was important, the fact that we did have a lot of time off,” Allen stated. “I was aware that winning the scrimmage line
was going to be significant, so we believed that it was necessary to emphasize that by wearing the pads.
accomplish last week. On Wednesday, we’ll assess our current state.”
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