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Saints quarterback Derek Carr was having another tough time against the Chiefs even before he took a wicked shot from blitzing defensive back Chamarri Conner on Monday night, not only ending his game but also New Orleans' hopes of a comeback.
Carr sustained an oblique injury on the hit with 9 1/2 minutes left and did not return to the 26-13 loss.
He finished with 185 yards ing with two touchdowns and an interception, though a good chunk of the yardage came on his 43-yard scoring strike to Rashid Shaheed. Otherwise, the longtime Raiders quarterback struggled to deal with the opportunistic Kansas City defense, finishing 18 of 28 while getting sacked once and hit eight more times.
"It wasn't even the hit, honestly," Carr said of his injury. "It was just when I dropped back and torqued to throw."
Carr plans to have an MRI exam on Tuesday to determine the extent of the oblique problem.
"I asked if there was anything we could do about it and there was not enough time," he said.
Conner came nearly untouched right up the middle.
The Saints were trailing 23-13 and had fourth-and-8 at the Kansas City 41 when Carr dropped back to , and Conner came on a tear. Carr unloaded a deep down the New Orleans sideline as he was hit, but it went right through the hands of undrafted rookie Mason Tipton for an incompletion that ended the drive.
Carr immediately grabbed his oblique as he stood up. And after a brief check on the sideline, he headed for the locker room.
It didn't help his cause playing behind a patchwork offensive line made thin by injuries.
"Any time you've got new guys playing next to each other there is a learning curve. That's just a fact," Carr said.
Yet Carr's problems against the Chiefs date to his days with the Raiders. He dropped to 3-15 against them, and he has won just once in eight tries since Steve Spagnuolo took over as Chiefs defensive coordinator. Carr is also 1-9 in Arrowhead Stadium, only the 12th quarterback since the AFL-NFL merger to lose that many road starts in a single stadium.
He has also struggled since leading New Orleans to back-to-back blowouts of the Panthers and Cowboys to start the season. Carr threw for just 142 yards against the Eagles and 239 against the Falcons, and the poor play has been reflected on the scoreboard: New Orleans averaged 45.5 points in its first two games and has averaged 16.3 over its past three.
The Saints face a tough turnaround, too, facing the Buccaneers on Sunday and the Broncos just four days later.
"We're not going to let this thing become a snowball. You can't," Carr said. "The end result is not what we want, but our process and the way we work can't change."