Saints’ Carr injures hand, has possible concussion

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr left Sunday’s 14-11 win against the New York Giants with a left hand injury and a potential concussion, putting his status for next week’s game against the Washington Commanders in question.

Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi said after the game that Carr is currently going through tests to determine the severity of the hand injury, but a league source told ESPN that there’s concern about a fracture.

“They’re going to do all the scans and the X-rays and all that, so we’ll kind of play that by ear,” Rizzi said. “But he made a phenomenal effort to try to keep our drive going, to get a first down there, just an unselfish player diving and I think he tried to put his hand down and brace himself.”

Carr took off running and collided with teammate Kevin Austin Jr. after attempting to launch over a Giants defender near the first down marker with four minutes remaining in the game. He reached out his left arm to brace his fall as he came down on the turf. Carr’s helmet also collided with the turf as he hit the ground, and he did not immediately get up after the collision.

Athletic trainers tended to Carr on the sideline before taking him to the injury tent, where he was briefly evaluated. He then went to the locker room and appeared to be favoring his left arm as he walked to the tunnel.

“He just dove,” Saints tight end Juwan Johnson said. “The thing is, before the series even started, he was just talking about how he was going to lay it on the line. And that’s the true example of laying it out on the line. … He cares about his team a lot and I’ll always go to war with somebody like that. It sucks that he got hurt from it, but I respect the decision for what he did. He’s just trying to win.”

This is the second time that Carr has left a game with an injury this season; he exited in the fourth quarter of a Week 5 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs with an oblique injury and missed the next three games before returning in Week 9.

Carr did not miss a game last season — his first with the Saints — but left three games early with injuries. He sprained the AC joint in his throwing shoulder last year but returned the following week, and also left two games to go into concussion protocol.

“It sucks,” Johnson said. “For a guy that has worked so hard, just in general, just on the field and off the field, it kind of sucks to see how his season has sort of panned out, where he misses the most games than he probably has in his career and he’s probably going to miss more time. Or whatever the case may be.

“… But he’s just been having a rough go and we’re behind him. … We just have to be there for him.”

Jake Haener replaced Carr in both the Chiefs game and the Giants game but did not attempt a pass in Sunday’s win. The Saints went with rookie Spencer Rattler in the three games that Carr missed, going 0-3. Rattler completed 59.6% of his passes for 571 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in those matchups.

“We’ve still got guys like Haener,” Johnson said. “He’s been playing really good ball. He played really good ball in training camp. We’re excited to rally around him, let him do his thing and see how that plays out.”