Gameday is here as it is the end of the regular season closing out a with divisional rival in the Carolina Panthers. Much like the last couple of seasons the Saints are playoff bound and this could be a game that the Saints go into looking ahead to the playoffs. With everyone doing a little scoreboard watching in the 49ers vs Rams game, it would be beneficial for the Saints to try to rest up some guys who are nicked up but everybody else should be good to go trying to get into playoff mode. I expect the Saints will go in this game trying to get the win but other circumstances could prevent that from happening. Here are five things to watch for:
1. Bad blood between Panthers and the Saints?
The first matchup was brutal as both teams tried the whole game to land the knockout punch. It was the Panthers who were trying to get that marquee win but they came up a little bit short. I think going forward this will be the series that will determine the division as the Panthers will only get better and this will be a good series because both teams dislike each other making for some good football.
2. Will the season’s most passing yards in a season stay in New Orleans?
It was a special night this past Monday as Drew Brees broke the twenty seven year record for most yards in a season. Now the question will be will he finish the season as the record holder or will Tom Brady who is 190 yards behind him be the new record holder? It will be dicey because Brady will probably play the whole game as the Patriots win and they are the AFC number one seed. I would much rather have Drew healthy for another Super Bowl run as the record would have to wait for another season but this may be too good to pass up.
3. Upcoming playoff opponents
If the Saints get the two seed, they wouldn’t play the Packers till the NFC championship game. Most likely their opponent would be San Francisco in the divisional round but I really don’t see the 49ers losing this weekend putting the two seed out of reach. So look for the Saints to host either the Falcons or Lions next weekend with a trip to San Francisco if they make it to the divisional round.
4. How long will the starters go?
I think the Saints will follow the same blueprint as they were in a similar situation last season. They played mostly the first half then when they saw that it was out of reach they shut it down in the second half. I think this season is different than last year as you have a home playoff game in your future regardless of the outcome on Sunday.
5. Undefeated home record on the line?
I had to go back and look to see if this was actually true because I thought it had been done before. The most games they have won in a season has been six, with the most recently coming in 2009 as they lost their last two games finishing 6-2 at home. The fact that this year’s club has broken the record with seven wins, finishing undefeated at home would be yet another record this team could claim.
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