Derek Carr injury update: Saints QB gives grim outlook on oblique, will undergo MRI

Derek Carr had to leave the New Orleans Saints Monday Night Football matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second half with an apparent oblique injury.

Carr was taken back to the locker room but was not able to return to the matchup. Backup Jake Haener took his place for the remainder of the game. The Saints quarterback opened up on his injury during his postgame press conference.

“Not good, but we’ll get an MRI and all that kind of stuff tomorrow, and figure it out,” Carr told the media. “But for me not to be out there with my guys, no matter the situation, it’s — it takes something.”

Carr finished the game by completing 18 of 28 passes for 165 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He revealed that he wanted to try and return to action before the end of the game, but the athletic training staff on hand would not clear him especially since it was already the second half.

“I couldn’t do what I needed to do in the simplest form,” he continued. “And so I asked if there was anything we could do about it, and there was not enough time to be able to do that. I would have done anything to stay out there and keep fighting, but I just — I couldn’t.”

While it’s unclear what the severity of the injury will be before Carr’s MRI, he shed some light on how it happened. On the play that he came up injured — on 4th-down that saw Carr throw it deep to Tipton — he was hit by a blitzing Chamarri Conner.

“It wasn’t even the hit, honestly,” he said. “Just when I dropped back and torque to throw that ball to [Mason Tipton], that’s when I felt it.

The Saints have a quick turnaround before the have to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET, and whether a healthy Carr is the quarterback in New Orleans for the matchup remains to be seen.