He said: "Jack is a very, very competitive footballer and we are not going to change that, we are not going to take that out of him.
"But I thought the referee handled the game extremely well, because there were a few tackles went unpunished. This is a competitive game - you can't tell me that Whelan and Nzonzi and Bardsley aren't competitors.
"They are and that's the way the Premier League should be. I don't have a problem with that. But I thought the referee managed the situation quite well."
Newcastle looked to have snatched a barely-deserved victory 16 minutes from time when Colback fired home off the inside of the post.
However, having passed up two glorious chances to cement the win, they succumbed in the 90th minute when Crouch looped a header over the helpless Tim Krul from Geoff Cameron's cross.
Carver admitted his players had lacked professionalism in failing to see the game out to secure what would have been back-to-back league victories.
He said: "It's hugely frustrating. It wasn't a classic, was it? It was a pretty average game, certainly one game that is not going into my DVD collection.
"There are two minutes on the clock, we get a free-kick, it goes into the final third, we play four or five passes backwards back to our goalkeeper, who kicks it. We are out of shape and before we know it, it's in the back of the net.
"Now that's not professionalism, for me. There are two minutes left on the clock, go and run the ball into the corner and see the game out 1-0 and take a scrappy 1-0 victory.
"But it wasn't to be. That's why I am frustrated."