The Saints visit the Panthers Monday in Charlotte for the first meeting of the season between the two NFC South rivals. Carolina sits at 6-and-7, riding a five-game losing streaking that’s all but taken them out of the playoff conversation. Saints QB Drew Brees knows how vital a win Monday would be, with the top seed in the NFC on the line.
“Keep building on what we’ve already established, what we’ve already accomplished and understand each game becomes the most important game, because there’s so much at stake,” said Brees.
The Saints swept the Panthers last year in two regular season games and won in the Dome during the playoffs.
The Panthers season has gone so wrong there’s even rumors it could be the last for coach Ron Riviera, whose team has lost a series of nail biters over the last month. It’s been a down year for the usually potent Panthers defense, but Brees knows they’re still loaded with talent, especially at linebacker.
“They fly around, play with a ton of energy and emotion, obviously (Luke) Kuechly is one of the best to ever do it, he’s the quarterback of that defense and has a lot of good players around him,” said Brees.
Offensively, Carolina has been carried by second-year running back Christian McCaffery, the diminutive swiss army knife has rushed for 926 yards, and has another 701 receiving yards.
Kick-off is at 7:15.
