Saints' Derek Carr injured while giving Chiefs loss | Saints

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – While celebrating a long touchdown to Rashid Shaheed, New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr said, “I told you so!” repeatedly to quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. And in that moment, Carr shouted the remark at least three times.

I told you! I told you! I told you!

Carr bragged after the score, but Monday's 26-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs provided a different message. The Saints have serious problems to overcome, problems that may have been obscured during their electrifying start to the season.

Coach Dennis Allen’s defense? Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs rushed for a season-high 460 yards.

The running game? Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams only managed 35 yards on 13 carries.

Explosive games allowed? Yes, it was chaos again.

And a bad night for the Saints ended even worse: With just under six minutes left, Carr went back to the locker room. The quarterback suffered an oblique injury on an incomplete fourth down. He didn't return.

“Not good,” Carr said when asked how he was feeling. “We’re going to get an MRI and everything (Tuesday) and find out.”

Carr's injury is obviously a concern. The quarterback said he didn't know if he would be available for next week's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, adding that the injury was more than just a pain tolerance issue.

But the Saints shouldn't let this overshadow what happened against the Chiefs. New Orleans has now lost three straight and fallen below .500. The 2-3 record is somehow worse than a year ago, despite a brilliant start.

“For the first time this year, we didn’t play like we know how to play,” Allen said. “That’s why I was disappointed by it.”

Unlike the Saints' last two losses, Monday's contest was not decided by the final drive. In fact, a poorly timed throw on New Orleans' first drive made it clear what kind of night the Saints were in for.

Three minutes later, after leading the Saints to the Chiefs' 39-yard line, Carr buckled under the pressure. The quarterback threw a desperation throw off his back foot that flew over Shaheed's head and into the arms of Chiefs safety Bryan Cook. The interception was a terrible mistake, one Carr has made too many times in this stadium.

Carr fell to 1-9 in his career at Arrowhead Stadium. No team had given the quarterback more trouble than the Chiefs, who Carr had faced many times during his time with the Raiders. Carr knew what atmosphere awaited him and the Saints on Monday and how precise it would be to overcome it.

But the Saints weren't precise against the Chiefs. Not on offense, with a depleted offensive line that allowed pressure after pressure on the interior. And certainly not on defense, as the defensive line failed to bring Mahomes down.

On Monday, the Chiefs offense finally looked like the Chiefs offense of old. Mahomes and Co. had a slow start to the season in the first four weeks. All four wins were decided by one point, and Kansas City had key playmakers like Isiah Pacheco and Rashee Rice injured.

The Chiefs have found ways to overcome those injuries in a way the Saints haven't been able to with theirs. From the jump, Mahomes took advantage of New Orleans' inability to defend tight ends by bringing in Travis Kelce (nine catches, 70 yards). But the Chiefs were able to do more than that. JuJu Smith-Schuster, who returned to the Chiefs just a month ago, had seven catches for 130 yards. Kareem Hunt had 102 yards on 27 carries.

The Chiefs took a 10-0 lead, with the second drive being particularly torturous for the defense. While the unit held Kansas City at bay with a 34-yard field goal, the Chiefs still managed to get into scoring range despite facing downfield and creating gaps of 2nd-and-34 and 3rd-and-22 . On the latter, the Chiefs gained 21 yards when Kelce made a running tackle on back Samaje Perine on an open-field lateral that ended short of the first down.

Yet the Saints remained here. In the second quarter, Carr hit Shaheed for a 43-yard touchdown to make it 10-7 – and finally scored on a deep shot that the quarterback attempted repeatedly throughout the evening to make it 10-7.

Then, in the fourth quarter, the Saints made it a one-score game again when Carr found tight end Foster Moreau for a 6-yard touchdown with 14:16 left. Moreau's score was set up in part by an incredible sequence: Defensive tackle Khalen Saunders fended off Mahomes in the end zone after a ball bounced off Smith-Schuster's hands.

According to Next Gen Stats, Saunders, a former Chiefs player, sprinted to the 35-yard line with a top speed of 15.8 miles per hour.

Fittingly, the Saints' promising plays would be overshadowed by further mistakes.

After Moreau's touchdown, kicker Blake Grupe missed the extra point to keep the score at 16-13. On the ensuing drive, the Chiefs didn't need much time to march down the field. Xavier Worthy's 3-yard touchdown capped a five-play, 68-yard drive that brought the score back to double digits.

“We had such a good first two weeks of the season, I just hope everyone knows their process can always be adjusted for the better,” Moreau said. “Never take anything for granted. … I know if we have the right process in place, the results will happen.”