As of now, Carolina has lost 3 straight, and the three don't look alike. The 43-13 home loss to Tampa Bay was a real beating. The 27-19 loss in Green Bay was a normal road loss. Denver was decided by replay reviews, 5 defensive pass interference flags against the Panthers to 1 for the Broncos, and a challenge sequence Dave Canales said the officials told him involved a flag thrown before the snap. Before that run, Carolina had beaten Detroit 32-26 and gone to Philadelphia and won 25-14, so this group can beat good teams. It just hasn't for three weeks.
The Saints' last 5 is 2-3, and the Cleveland win was their first at home all season. They had already lost to Atlanta 45-24, Minnesota 23-13 and Pittsburgh 16-10 in this building, so the Superdome hasn't been much of an edge yet. The offense is getting by on spread-out production: Chris Olave had 7 catches for 98 yards on 12 targets, Audric Estime ran 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown, and Alvin Kamara has been reduced to a small piece of the plan, with 6 carries against Cleveland. Travis Etienne Jr. is still on IR, and Kellen Moore said the team hasn't opened his practice window.
Carolina's passing game is the more dangerous unit right now. Darren Waller caught 8 of 10 targets for 90 yards and a touchdown against Denver, Tetairoa McMillan scored, and Tommy Tremble caught a touchdown too. Chuba Hubbard put up 79 yards on 16 carries. Canales also said Xavier Legette could potentially be designated to return from IR, which would give Young another option outside. The worry is the other side of the ball, where a defense missing a starting linebacker pair now has to deal with Shough's scrambling.
Kickoff is 12:00 PM CT. It's indoors, so weather won't be a factor, and it's a division game between two 3-5 teams. The thing to watch all week is the Wednesday injury report: whether McCoy can snap for the Saints and how many of those Panthers inactives come back. Whichever team gets more of its front back probably wins this.
