Today is the last day of regular season play, and many teams are out there jockeying for playoff positions. The Panthers are one of them. With a win over 9-7 NFC South division rivals the New Orleans Saints, who will try and play the role of spoiler on their home turf today since they are out of playoff contention, it would mean one Panthers playoff game at home. Other potential scenarios:
The big game between the Panthers and the Giants starts at 8:15 ET tonight. At stake is homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and the bragging rights to the best record in the NFC. Both teams currently stand at 11-3, with the Giants losing their last 2 and looking to not make it 3. Carolina has won the last 7 of 8 games.
The game doesn’t start until 4:15 ET this afternoon, but I wanted to go ahead and get this thread started in case there were some 1pm games that you wanted to talk about. The Cats are coming off a huge win against division rival Tampa in last week’s Monday night game. That put the Cats at 10-3, and hoping to clinch a playoff spot if they win today against the Broncos who, at 8-5, sit atop the AFC West division with no real competition.
To say tonight’s game between the Bucs and the Cats is huge would be an understatement. Both of them sit tied at the top of the competitive NFC South, and whoever wins tonight will not only get the right to claim first place in their division, but their playoff hopes will be a lot more clear. Not only that, but the Cats are looking for revenge after getting trounced by Tampa Bay 27-3 back in mid-October. That game was on Bucs turf, though, and Carolina – like all other NFC South teams this year, has not lost a division game at home. Let us hope that the trend of home turf wins continues tonight. [-o< This rivalry has gotten so heated (and in some cases, comical) that it is being billed as "Chucky vs. Freddy” in apparent reference to TB Coach Jon “Chucky” Gruden referring to Panthers WR Steve Smith as “a nightmare … He’s like Freddy Krueger. He scares the hell out of me. Every film I pick up, he’s brilliant.”
After last week’s humiliating 45-28 loss to division rival Atlanta, the Cats will be looking go rebound today when they play the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. The Packers, too, will be looking to turn things around after the 51-29 drubbing they received from New Orleans last Monday.
The 8-2 Panthers take on division rival Atlanta (6-4) today on the Falcons’ home turf. The Cats won the first battle with the Falcons earlier this season 24-9, so the Falcs will be looking for revenge, as well as to gain some traction within the division.
