Saints news: NFL Network right on Derek Carr after all, Alvin Kamara may try for 1,000 and Atlanta says 'Who Dat!'

The Saints (5-11) will be without the only quarterback who led them to wins this season when they play at Tampa Bay (9-7) on Sunday (1 p.m. eastern, FOX) to end the regular season. But they could get star running back Alvin Kamara back. The team may have mixed motivations, however, as a win could put the hated Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs.

1. Derek Carr will not play

Saints quarterback Derek Carr was ruled out on Friday for the fourth straight week with a broken left, non-throwing hand suffered in New Orleans' last win — 14-11 at the New York Giants on Dec. 8.

After Carr missed a 20-19 loss to Washington the next week, Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi disagreed vehemently with a report on Dec. 17 by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network that Carr was likely done for the season.

"With 3 weeks remaining, a return this season is described as very unlikely," Rapoport wrote.

"He'll get a chance to play at some point before the season's over," Rizzi said at the time. He was 3-2 at that point since replacing fired coach Dennis Allen and still had a slight chance of getting the job. "I don't think that's a reach. It's improving. He's just not there yet."

And Rizzi wasn't done.

"If he was done for the season, we would have put him on IR (injured reserve) by now, and we would have shut him down," Rizzi said later that same week. "That's just not the case. He's working his tail off every day. He's frustrated by some of the reports. We've had multiple conversations about it, and he's in here every day. He had a really good day today."

But Carr never played, and the Saints never won a game without him all season as he was 5-5 as the starter. After leading New Orleans to a 2-0 start, he missed three games in October with an oblique injury - all losses - under Allen. He started the first four games of Rizzi's interim tenure, winning the first two and three of the four before the injury.

For Rizzi to get promoted to head coach from interim, he obviously needed Carr at quarterback.

"I got frustrated by the reports in the beginning because I witnessed and watched this guy (Carr) every single day come in here and rehab with a purpose of getting back," Rizzi said Friday. "At no point in the rehab process was there ever a, 'I'm done for the year.' It was literally, 'Let's see how I feel tomorrow.' We were inching and progressing every day."

Carr himself has not said that he was frustrated by any media reports.

The Saints fell out of the playoff hunt the day before a 34-0 loss at Green Bay on Monday, Dec. 23, that dropped them to 5-10. Still, this week, the Saints held a simulated game to see if Carr could perform. And he had an injection into his left hand.

"We did try to inject the hand and see if he could function," Rizzi said. "And we're just not there yet. We didn't want to put him out there in a situation where he couldn't function fully."

Rizzi is 3-4 as the Saints' interim coach with little shot at the job.

In Carr's place, rookie Spencer Rattler will start his sixth game of the season, looking for his first NFL win as a starter.

2. Alvin Kamara needs 50 rushing yards yards to reach 1,000 for 1st time in his career

Saints' starting running back and leading rusher Alvin Kamara is listed as doubtful for Sunday's game with a groin injury that has kept him out of the last two games. But he will see how the groing feels in pregame warmups Sunday and may play if he feels right, Rizzi said.

At 29, Kamara has rushed for a career-high 950 yards on 228 carries for a 4.2-yard average and six touchdowns. The 2017 NFL offensive rookie of the year and five-time Pro Bowler is 50 yards away from reaching 1,000 for the first time his career.

Kamara's backup, Kendre Miller, will not play because of a concussion. So, recently acquired running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire may play a lot, if Kamara can't go. Edwards-Helaire, a first-round pick by Kansas City in 2020, was waived by the Chiefs on Dec. 16 and picked up by the Saints. A Baton Rouge native and star on LSU's 2019 national championship team, Edwards-Helaire rushed five times for 20 yards and caught two passes for 10 yards in the Saints' 25-10 loss at home last week to Las Vegas.

Wide receiver Chris Olave (concussion) is questionable as are linebackers Pete Werner (concussion) and Willie Gay (shoulder) and defensive end Payton Turner (ankle).

3. The Falcons factor

One of the better rivalries in the NFL is the Saints and Falcons. They each came into the league in the late 1960s - Atlanta in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967. They have been in the same division since 1970, meeting twice a year. They have played 112 times. Atlanta has won 56. New Orleans has won 56.

Former Saints coach Sean Payton particularly hated Atlanta. He filmed a commercial in New Orleans at a restaurant where he orders roasted falcon. When a waiter at the famous Drago's chargrilled oyster restaurant near the Superdome told a Falcons fan wearing his team's jersey several years ago that they were out of oysters, the fan accused him of not serving him because Atlanta had just beaten the Saints. They actually were out of oysters, a Saints fan told him as he was forced to eat something else.

On Sunday, Falcons-hating Saints fans will face a dilemma. If the Falcons (8-8) beat Carolina (4-12) on Sunday (1 P.M. EST, CBS) and the Saints beat Tampa Bay, the Falcons will win the NFC South and reach the playoffs. Atlanta swept two games from Tampa Bay this season, so the Falcons would win the tiebreaker if both finish 9-8.

If the Saints lose to the Buccaneers, Atlanta cannot reach the playoffs. Tampa Bay is a 14-point favorite to keep the Falcons home for the postseason for the seventh straight year.

So what will Saints fans want more? Finishing 6-11 would be better than 5-12, but they would have to deal with Atlanta reaching the postseason when they will not. Atlanta has made the playoffs 14 times in its history. The Saints have reached the postseason 14 times as well.

Do Saints fans want to win a meaningless game bad enough Sunday, knowing they will fall behind the Falcons in playoff appearances, 15-14?