Monday Night Football features an NFC South showdown between the New Orleans Saints (11-2) and the Carolina Panthers (6-7). The Saints have locked up a playoff berth but are still in the hunt for home field advantage with the top seed in the NFC up for grabs after the Los Angeles Rams dropped a game to the Chicago Bears last week. The Panthers would love nothing more than to spoil the fun for their divisional rivals and will need to pull off the upset if they hope to have a shot at the postseason.
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The Saints clinched their second straight NFC South title last week in their 28-14 win over the Tampa Buccaneers and now have their sights set on the No. 1 overall seed in the conference. The Saints are being led once again by quarterback Drew Brees, who is having another great season with 31 touchdowns and only four interceptions at this stage of the season.
Running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are one of the best running back tandems in the NFL and have been a nice complement to Drew Brees’ passing game, helping the team average 34.4 points per game. The defense has also held up its end up the deal, holding opponents to just 21.8 points per game, but could be without safety Kurt Coleman, who is listed as questionable heading into Monday evening.
“You try to continue to climb. Keep stacking the bricks, so to speak, keep building on what we’ve already established, what we’ve already accomplished and yet understanding that each game becomes the most important game because there’s so much at stake,” Brees said. “We want to continue to play our best football and be an ascending team heading into the playoffs."
The Panthers are trying to salvage their season, and with just an 8 percent chance of making the playoffs, they will need to win out – and then get a lot of help around the league in order to get a wild card spot. After starting the season 6-2, the Panthers have lost five straight and will face a tough task against the Saints defense. The Panthers are averaging just 24.9 points per game this season and could be missing their starting quarterback Cam Newton, who is listed as questionable. All indications are that he will be under center come Monday night, but the question will be how much his shoulder injury will limit him during the game.
The Saints and Panthers are pretty even historically, with the Panthers leading the all-time series 24-23, so New Orleans will have a chance to even the series Monday night. This will be the first time the two teams meet during the season, but the Panthers still have a bad taste in their mouths after last season, when the Saints swept the Panthers in both the regular season games and the Wild Card round. The Panthers are hoping to get revenge but will face an uphill battle against a Saints team that has made it look easy for most of the season.
