New Orleans Saints: Predicting the final quarter of the Saints’ season
By Jason Reed
Week 17 at Carolina Panthers
The New Orleans Saints will not be able to rest the starters in the last game of the season like they did last year against the Carolina Panthers. By losing to the Titans they will have the same record heading into Week 17 as both the 49ers and Seahawks.
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And with the teams playing each other in Week 17, the Saints will have to win to maintain that same record, unless the Seahawks and 49ers tie, which would be hilarious.
The Carolina Panthers will have nothing to play for playoff-wise in this game, although there will be two things they are essentially playing for. First is Christian McCaffrey‘s MVP case and they are going to feed him the ball as much as possible to get those numbers up to increase his chance at winning the MVP.
The second thing is they are going to attempt to be spoilers. The Panthers know that the Saints will be playing for something in this game and as their division rivals, will do everything in their power to ruin that for them.
The thing is, though, that I do not think this game will even be close. The Panthers nearly beat the Saints in the Superdome earlier in the year and that could make this game concerning. However, that was the Panthers’ one chance to beat the Saints and it won’t happen again.
After breaking down what happened last game and wanting to prove a point, the Saints are going to come out firing at the Panthers and will look to put their foot on the Panthers’ neck. I think this game is so lopsided that the starters end up getting pulled for the entire fourth quarter.
Next. Three keys to overcome the 49ers. dark
You don’t want to cross the Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints when they have something to play for and know that you are simply trying to be a thorn in their side.