NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr didn't want to use his shoulder injury as an excuse for the team's offensive performance in a 26-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But it was possibly one factor in the loss, which extended the Saints' streak of scoring 20 points or less to 11 straight games. The Saints (2-2) were booed at home multiple times on Sunday.
"We got our ass beat today," Saints coach Dennis Allen said. "Unacceptable. Obviously, nobody is happy about it."
Carr completed 23-of-37 passes for 137 yards and no touchdowns in the loss and had only 79 passing yards through three quarters. His day ended with a sack/fumble with less than four minutes left at the Saints 25-yard line.
"Just really inconsistency right now," Carr said. "Just too inconsistent for the standard that we set for ourselves, and the inconsistency isn't going to get you wins in this league."
Carr, who has a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, was slow to get up after the last sack and was helped up by teammates before walking off the field. The Saints put in backup Jameis Winston on the next drive, but he threw an interception on his first play with 2:24 remaining.
When asked if any of the hits were particularly bad, Carr joked "they all hurt," but didn't say any of them would have lingering effects.
"It's football," he said. "Everything is gonna be sore."
Allen said Carr looked good throwing in practice on Friday after not taking team snaps on Wednesday or Thursday, which led to the decision to start him. He said he didn't notice the shoulder holding him back during the actual game but couldn't say for sure.
"I don't think there was anything in there that made me feel like he can't play," Allen said. "Did he miss some throws? Yeah, he missed some throws. Is it related to the shoulder injury? I can't tell you that. I thought we had some opportunities ... and I don't think we took advantage of the opportunities that we had."
Allen said the only thing he noticed was Carr's shoulder getting sore toward the end of the game, which led to the decision to put Winston in. He did not consider switching quarterbacks earlier in the game despite the offensive struggles.
"There's probably a couple of throws where I felt like it might have come up a little bit short and I don't know that was relative to the shoulder or not," Allen said.
Allen said they will see how Carr comes out of the game health-wise and go from there in terms of his start against the New England Patriots next Sunday.
"I'm going to do my best to get ready to go this week and hopefully be ready for practice on Wednesday, and if not Wednesday, Thursday, and I'm going to do whatever I can for our team," Carr said.