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The last time these two teams met, it was in the playoffs a year ago, with the Saints ending the Panthers season in the Wildcard round of the playoffs.

When this season hit its halfway point, it looked like they might be set to meet in the postseason again, but the Panthers have veered so badly off-course that their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread right now.

They will meet the Saints on Monday as losers of five straight.



On a skid ...
There was a time earlier this season when it the Panthers were right on the Saints and Rams’ heels in contention for the best record in the NFC.
Carolina hit the halfway point of its season with a 6-2 record. It was benefitting from outstanding play by quarterback Cam Newton, who had 19 passing and rushing touchdowns in the season’s first half. Its defense was allowing a respectable 22.5 points per game and second-year running back Christian McCaffrey was coming into his own.
But the wheels fell off when the Panthers were embarrassed in a 52-21 loss to the Steelers on a Thursday night in Pittsburgh. That set the tone for a losing streak that is at five games and counting with Carolina hosting the Saints this week.
Carolina lost by one point to the 5-8 Lions, when coach Ron Rivera elected to go for two on a touchdown with 1:07 to go rather than kicking a game-tying extra point (kicker Graham Gano had already missed an extra point and a field goal in the game).
The Panthers let a seven-point lead slip away in the fourth quarter at home against Seattle, when Gano’s 52-yard go-ahead field goal attempt missed with 1:45 to go, opening the door for Sebastian Janikowski’s game-winner as time expired.
The last two weeks, they have lost to the 5-8 Buccaneers and 5-7-1 Browns.
In their last five games, the Panthers have scored more than 21 points only once, Newton has thrown almost as many interceptions (8) as touchdowns (9), playing a big role in the team’s negative-6 turnover margin during the skid, and defensive assistants Brady Hoke and Jeff Imamura were fired.

Mr. Do Everything
When Norv Turner was hired to be the Panthers offensive coordinator this offseason, there was some excitement centered on what he could do with a talented player like Christian McCaffrey. Throughout his coaching career, Turner has proven to be something of a running back whisperer, and that has played out this year.
McCaffrey ranks No. 4 among NFL players in yards from scrimmage this season, with 1,627 yards, and he has an outside chance at becoming the first player since Marshall Faulk in 1999 to record 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in the same season.
The second-year running back is well on his way to his first 1,000-yard rushing season. After averaging just 3.7 yards per carry in his rookie season, McCaffrey has bumped that up to 5.2 yards per carry this season, and he needs just 74 yards to crack 1,000.
While McCaffrey leads all NFL running backs in receiving yards (701), hitting 1,000 receiving yards for the season would require some monster games through the air.
He is already in some select company as a pass catcher, though. His 86 catches this season are already tied for the 16th most ever by a running back in a single season. If he maintains his current pace, he will break the NFL single-season receptions record by a running back (102 by Matt Forte in 2014).
The Saints, of course, have their own all-purpose maven in Alvin Kamara, whose 1,384 yards from scrimmage this season ranks No. 6 in the NFL.

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saintsfan1976

Our offense gonna bounce back in this one. Scam Newton is in for a long night.

K Major

4 quarters.

SmashMouth

SmashMouth

Panthers cling to '5 percent chance' they can beat Saints twice for wild card playoff spot