Losers and losers: 3 takeaways from Saints' disastrous loss at Kansas City in Week 5

The New Orleans Saints actually started off well, briefly, in their sharp, rarely worn black helmets at Kansas City Monday night. Quarterback Derek Carr hit his first two passes, and running backs Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams combined to gain 22 yards on three carries. Carr's 4-yard pass to wide receiver Chris Olave gave New Orleans a first down at the Chiefs' 39-yard line.

Then Carr inexplicably threw what looked like an eephus pitch — a long floater towards wide receiver Rasheed Shaheed, which amounted to a jump ball. And he was not under very much pressure at all. He easily could've avoided a rusher to buy more time. Kansas City safety Bryan Cook came up with it at the Chiefs' 22-yard line. And quarterback Patrick Mahomes drove his team 78 yards in 10 plays for a 7-0 lead.

And from that point on, the Saints played their worst game of the season to drop their third straight and fall to 2-3. And Carr left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury. He had an MRI done Tuesday on his left oblique and will not play Sunday when the Saints (2-3) host Tampa Bay (3-2) at noon CT in the Superdome on FOX, according to a report by the NFL Network. Carr may also miss the game after that when the Saints host Denver and former coach Sean Payton on Thursday night (Oct. 17).

The Saints will start either rookie Spencer Rattler, who showed much more overall talent and arm strength in training camp and the preseason, or second-year quarterback Jake Haener.

"I thought we got outplayed, got outcoached," Saints coach Dennis Allen said Monday night. He has had no comment on the specifics of Carr's injury, but he was critical of Carr's play at Kansas City.

"We really couldn't get a whole lot going on either side of the ball," he said. "We couldn't get anything going in the run game or in the pass game. Defensively, we made too many mistakes early. We didn't tackle as well as we needed to. For the first time this year, I felt like it wasn't played the way we're capable of playing."

Derek Carr didn't have it

After the inexplicable interception, Carr shook his head in dismay on the sideline.

"We had someone come free (from the pass rush), so I tried to throw it away over his head," Carr said. "Clearly, didn't throw it out of bounds. So, bone-headed, stupid. Trying to be legal because I still thought I was in the pocket. I was trying to throw it away, but they ended up getting a free one."

And he seemed off the rest of the night for the most part. He did throw a perfect, 43-yard touchdown to Shaheed to get the Saints within 10-7 midway in the second quarter and could be seen on replays running down the field yelling, "I told you! I told you!"

He added a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Foster Moreau to cut Kansas City's lead to 16-13 early in the fourth quarter, but in the end he didn't tell anyone much at all. Carr finished 18 of 28 for only 165 yards with the interception and a few too many missed open receivers.

"He's missed some throws that you just simply cannot miss," ESPN analyst Troy Aikman said.

"You certainly don't want to start a game off that way. We had some good plays, and then the interception. And all the momentum goes to them," Allen said.

"Not good," Carr said after the game, but he was not talking about his performance. He had been asked how the left oblique injury felt. Defensive back Chamarri Conner had knocked Carr down aas he threw a fourth-down incompletion with 9:32 to play in the game. Haener replaced him for the rest of the game, completing 2 of 7 passes for 17 yards.

"I couldn't do what I needed to do in the simplest form," Carr said. "I asked if there was anything we could do about it (to get him back in the game), and there was not enough time to do that."

Haener, a fourth-round pick in 2023 from Fresno State, attempted more than one pass in a regular season game for the first time in his NFL career Monday night. He threw one pass that was incomplete against Carolina in the opener this season. He did not play at all last season. The Saints took Rattler out of South Carolina with a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He is clearly viewed as having more upside.

Allen was not pleased with Carr when he was healthy Monday.

"They don't give up a lot of explosive plays, but there's going to be a few opportunities where we've got to make the moment of truth play," he said. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to make them on some of those deep shots down the field."

Carr, who played from 2014-22 with the Raiders before becoming a Saint, dropped to 1-9 against Mahomes and 3-16 against Kansas City.

Saints defense did not play as well as it has

The Saints defense allowed a season-high 28 first downs and a season-high tying 460 yards. They pressured quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but sacked him just twice. Mahomes darted and roamed around to complete 28 of 39 passes for 331 yards.

"The biggest thing was our inability to get Patrick Mahomes down at times when we had opportunities," Allen said. "I thought he did really some unbelievable things and made some really good plays in terms of scrambling."

The Chiefs did not have leading wide receiver Rashee Rice and are without top receiver Marquee "Hollywood" Brown for the season due to injuries. But Mahomes didn't need them obviously. He found tight end Travis Kelce nine times for 70 yards.

The Saints couldn't even force a punt when the Chiefs faced a 2nd-and-34 at its 44-yard line and held just a 10-7 lead at the time in the second quarter. After a 13-yard gain, Mahomes hit Kelce, who gained five yards, then lateraled to running back Samaje Perine for another 15 yards. Then they converted a 4th-and-1 and eventually kicked a field goal for a 13-7 lead.

Running back Kareem Hunt also shredded the Saints' run defense with 102 yards on 27 carries.

"Had some free runners, which we usually don't have," said Allen, who was a very effective Saints defensive coordinator for seven seasons before becoming head coach before the 2022 season.

"But I've got to put that one me," he said. "I've got to get these guys to understand what we're asking them to do and get them better prepared to play."

Chris Olave needs more targets

Saints wide receiver Chris Olave had exactly one target in the first half after coming into the game with 20 catches for 265 yards amid 24 targets. He finished Monday night's game with just two catches for 10 yards on four targets. Olave had 1,000-yard receiving seasons on 72 catches and 87 catches in 2022 and '23, respectively.

His brother Josh questioned the Saints strategy at halftime Monday on X.

Allen was asked if such issues can lead to dissension.

"Those things tend to have a tendency to want to creep in when things aren't going well," he said. "We've got to stick together as a group. The only way you can turn things around is to be a united front. That's what we've always kind of done here, and what we will do now."

But Allen also agrees that Olave does need the ball more.

Suddenly new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is not as hot as he was just a few weeks ago.

"We're all frustrated with our lack of ability to get anything going in that game," Allen said. "We want to get Chris his touches, and we weren't really able to do that."

Allen said he and his staff need to reevaluate how they are doing, or not doing, many things.

"As a coaching staff, we need to go back and look at what we need to do better," he said, "to try to improve and put our guys in better positions."