Derek Carr spent his first nine season with the Las Vegas Raiders (née Oakland) before joining the New Orleans Saints, who signed him to a four-year contract over the summer. Fresh off his fourth Pro Bowl appearance, Carr was expected to elevate the Saints' fledgling offense in an imminently winnable NFC South.
New Orleans' new QB was solid in Week 1 — he tossed 305 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the Saints' narrow victory over the Tennessee Titans — but Carr is a fearless gunslinger who, if anything, has a tendency to get too bold with his decisions. He tossed his second interception of the young season Monday night, and it was a rough one.
With a smidge over three minutes left in the second quarter, the Saints faced a third-and-five on their own 27-yard line. Carr dropped back and carelessly lofted a pass into triple coverage, intended for Chris Olave. It never had a chance.
New Orleans Saints' Derek Carr tosses ugly interception vs. Carolina Panthers
Not entirely sure what Carr's goal was on this pass.
Olave is his favorite target, a talented set of hands more than capable of netting difficult grabs in traffic. There's a difference between trusting Olave in a 50-50 situation and lobbing it into a crowd of Carolina defenders, though. That ball was in the Panthers' possession before Olave could even get his hands up.
The Saints went into halftime with a 6-3 lead, with neither offense gaining much of a rhythm. The extremely early returns on Carr have been middling at best, with New Orleans looking more like a mid-tier wild card team than a genuine contender. Of course, it's still Week 2. We haven't even made it all the way through Monday night. Carr deserves some benefit of the doubt as he adjusts to a new situation.
New Orleans is the running favorite in the NFC South and Carr is definitely the best, or at least the most established QB in the division. The Raiders finished 11th in total passing yards last season. The Saints were 16th, with a disparity of roughly 2,000 yards.
Even marginal improvement with Carr under center would leave the Saints in a favorable position, but he can't have many more hiccups like that interception. That's the kind of mistake we'd expect from his Monday night counterpart Bryce Young, a rookie. Not a 10-year NFL vet.