Well, I would never have expected to be rooting for the Saints, but here we are. Following a 24-20 victory courtesy of the Saints over the Buccaneers, the Panthers are now tied for the top of the NFC South. With this development, the Panthers and Buccaneers will battle it out twice for the NFC South crown. Rather than relying on other teams to lose or tiebreaker scenarios, both of these teams truly control their own destiny going into their battles over the next two weeks.
That said, outside of the NFC South path to the playoffs, the Panthers path gets much murkier. The Seahawks won their game today 37-9 against the Falcons, which might have helped the Panthers in the Wild Card rankings as they have a win over the Rams. The Rams also face the Lions next week following a likely win over the Cardinals today, so the NFC West is still very undecided as the Rams and Seahawks will play again in a few weeks. As Walker stated earlier, the Packers falling off would be their biggest way to the playoffs if they can’t conquer the NFC South. But at this point, the table is set with a game against the Saints and Seahawks, and two against the Buccaneers in their future. With a tied NFC South Crown right now, everything is there for the Panthers to push into the playoffs without any tie-breaker nonsense.
Where do you see the Panthers landing at the close of the season?
