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

Saints quarterback Derek Carr was sidelined for the fourth straight game on Friday after suffering a broken left hand that prevented him from throwing 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 vehemently disagreed with a Dec. 17 report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that Carr was likely out for the season.

“With three weeks to go, a return this season is considered very unlikely,” wrote Rapoport.

“He will get the chance to play at some point before the end of the season,” Rizzi said at the time. He was 3-2 at the time since replacing fired coach Dennis Allen and still had a slim chance of getting the job. “I don’t think that’s a reach. It’s improving. He’s just not ready yet.”

And Rizzi wasn’t finished yet.

“If he was done for the season, we would have put him on IR (injured reserve) by now and taken him out,” Rizzi said later that same week. “That is simply not the case. He works hard every day. Some reports frustrate him. We’ve had several conversations about it and he’s 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 a starter. After leading New Orleans to a 2-0 start, he missed three games under Allen in October with an oblique injury – all losses. He started the first four games of Rizzi’s interim tenure, winning the first two and three of the four games before the injury.

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

“I was frustrated at the beginning with the reports because every day I witnessed and watched this guy (Carr) come here and undergo rehab with the intention of coming 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 progressed and progressed every day.”

Carr himself did not say that any media reports frustrated him.

The Saints were eliminated from the playoff hunt the day before when they lost 34-0 at Green Bay on Monday, December 23, dropping them to 5-10. Still, the Saints held a simulation game this week to see if Carr could perform. And he had an injection in his left hand.

“We tried injecting the hand and seeing if he could function,” Rizzi said. “And we’re just not there yet. We didn’t want to put him in a situation where he wasn’t fully functional.”

Rizzi is the 3-4 interim coach of the Saints and has little chance of getting the job.

In Carr’s place, rookie Spencer Rattler will start his sixth game of the season and seek his first NFL win as a starter.

Saints starting running back and leading rusher Alvin Kamara is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game after suffering a groin injury in the last two games. But he will see how the mood feels in Sunday’s pregame warmup and could play if he feels right, Rizzi said.

At 29, Kamara has rushed for a career-high 950 yards on 228 carries, averaging 4.2 yards and six touchdowns. The 2017 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and five-time Pro Bowler is just 50 yards away from reaching 1,000 yards for the first time in his career.

Kamara’s replacement, Kendre Miller, will not play due to a concussion. So recently signed running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire could play a lot if Kamara can’t go. Edwards-Helaire, a first-round pick by Kansas City in 2020, was released by the Chiefs on Dec. 16 and acquired by the Saints. A native of Baton Rouge, Edwards-Helaire is the star of LSU’s 2019 national team. He ran five times for 20 yards and caught two passes for 10 yards in the Saints’ 25-10 home loss to Las Vegas last week.

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

One of the better rivalries in the NFL is the Saints and Falcons. They entered the league in the late 1960s – Atlanta in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967. They have played in the same division since 1970 and meet 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 ordered fried falcon. A few years ago, when a waiter at the famed oyster restaurant Drago’s near the Superdome told a Falcons fan wearing his team’s jersey that they were out of oysters, the fan accused him of not serving him because Atlanta was had beaten the Saints. They were actually out of oysters, a Saints fan told him when he was forced to eat something else.

On Sunday, Falcons-hating Saints fans 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 has won two games against Tampa Bay this season, so the Falcons would win the tiebreaker if both finished 9-8.

If the Saints lose to the Buccaneers, Atlanta cannot make the playoffs. Tampa Bay is the 14-point favorite to keep the Falcons at home in the postseason for the seventh consecutive season.

So what more do Saints fans want? Finishing 6-11 would be better than finishing 5-12, but they would have to deal with Atlanta making the postseason if they don’t. Atlanta has reached the playoffs 14 times in its history. The Saints have also reached the postseason 14 times.

Do Saints fans want to win a meaningless game on Sunday knowing they will fall behind the Falcons 15-14 in the playoffs?