Derek Carr admits he needs to ‘chill out’ after he was seen taking his frustration on teammates during the Jaguars game

Derek Carr risks ruining his on-field chemistry with teammates due to his very public outbursts and tendency to call them out in the media.

Derek Carr admits he needs to ‘chill out’ after he was seen taking his frustration on teammates during the Jaguars game

Derek Carr needs to be a better teammate. (IMAGE: via SI)

The New Orleans Saints Thursday Night Football matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars was a game in which tempers flared high and was the epitome of what can go wrong, will go wrong. The Saints were in a position to send the game to overtime, but Foster Moreau’s dropped catch on the final play of the game ended up costing the team the game.

However, despite the dropped catch, it was Derek Carr, the quarterback who was in the limelight due to his very public outbursts expressing his frustration whenever the team failed to capitalize on a play.

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The quarterback sent a wrong message to not just the fans but to his brothers, who he stepped on the field with. In some senses, it was a blatant lack of accountability and pushing the blame onto others for not doing their job. It was venting this frustration out in the public domain that may negatively impact Carr’s image in the locker room.

As a quarterback, you are the leader of the offense; the buck stops with you, and yes, there are times when you are at no fault, there are times when you did your job good but things still did not go your way, however, it does not give you a pass to take that frustration out in front of the thousands of fans watching the game.

The quarterback seems to have understood this and had this to say to reporters following the team’s agonizing loss to the Jaguars. 

I've been showing my emotion a little bit too much on my sleeve, you know, like, I kind of got to kind of chill out, and that's me holding myself accountable. Because that is not going to help anything. So just trying to be a calming influence in those moments, especially when it's been a couple of times it's happened, that heightened frustration. I can do a better job as a leader to calm everybody down
Derek Carr via NBC Sports

Derek Carr’s lack of accountability may be detrimental to team morale

That’s great right, he knows that he is in the wrong and that he ought to do better. Is that not accountability? Well, yes, but right after that statement, Carr said this:

There were some things that happened today that led to some pretty big negative plays that should never happen, and I think that's where my frustration was coming from.

So, you basically just stated that you need to hold yourself more accountable and then proceed to take subtle digs at your team right after? Is this Derek Carr or Zach Wilson from 2022? It is understandable for Carr to be frustrated, but ultimately, he will need to consider if voicing out those frustrations in the public domain is worth the cost of ruining overall team chemistry or not.

The exchange between Carr and Chris Olave was the highlight of the night. The Saints were down 24-16 with 10:44 left on the clock and were forced to punt the ball after the wideout was unable to catch the ball as he was nowhere near it. Carr was practically screaming at Olave and appeared to be asking him, “What are you doing?” He later justified stating that his reaction was not towards Olave but that is a bit hard to believe.

Given that Carr has been in the league for so long, he should understand by this point that as a quarterback, you get all the credit for the team’s victories and all the blame for the team’s losses. That is just how the league works. It may not be your fault, but justifying yourself in front of the media and publicly expressing your displeasure is not going to make things better for you in the heat of the moment.

The long-term repercussions far outweigh the momentary relief it may give you. As the leader of the offense, you need these guys to trust you and know that no matter what; you have their back. That behavior on-field on Thursday night definitely was not it.

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