NEW ORLEANS — How often in Saints history has New Orleans won a game by 22, and you don't feel real good about it?
The answer. Not very often.
Maybe never. Until Sunday.
The Saints did just enough right, and the Carolina Panthers are truly terrible.
Whether or not you love the direction the Saints are headed in. Right now, 31 NFL franchises and their fans can confidently say at least we're not the Panthers.
Let's start our 4 Takeaways:
#4 saints held serve
The best way to describe the Saints' win on Sunday is with an expression from tennis.
What the Saints did was hold serve. In tennis, you're supposed to win when you serve.
You have to win when you serve if you want to win the match..
The Saints had to beat the Panthers to have any shot at the postseason. It's not a win you get excited about, but it's a win you had to have. Since hedge fund billionaire David Tepper bought the Panthers in 2018, they've been terrible.
In his six seasons of owning the team, he's now on his sixth head coach, with zero playoff appearances and the 31st-best overall record.
Only the Jets have been worse since 2018. Tepper has quickly become one of the NFL's worst owners and they're not getting better anytime soon. To draft Bryce Young who's been a huge disappointment.
The Panthers gave up last year's first and second-round picks. A good wide receiver in DJ Moore and their first-round pick in the upcoming draft. Likely the number-one overall pick and their second-rounder in '25.
It could go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history. The point is things could be a lot worse.
#3 The fight
At number three the fight has dominated the postgame talk.
Erik McCoy and Derek Carr got heated, and a ton of cameras caught it. After the game everyone involved, including McCoy, downplayed it. He said it happens and it's no big deal.
Maybe they're right, but I never saw a Saints center get this heated with Drew Brees. I don't think that would have happened.
Certainly, teammates argue, and I'm not saying this is a big problem, but I don't think it's meaningless either.
Right now, Carr is the 18th-rated passer in the NFL. Maybe that level of production leads to this level of respect. Maybe.
#2 Plusses & minuses
At number two there were plusses and minuses in the win.
On the plus side, the Saints secondary played well. They handed Bryce Young his worst day of the season.
He's the NFL's 30th-best passer, and the Saints were 3-4 scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
That's 7-8 over the last two weeks. They're now tied for 22nd in the NFL.
Not great but improving.
On the negative side, Carolina rushed for 204 yards. The Saints have fallen to 27th in the NFL in rushing defense and two of their final four opponents can really run the ball.
Atlanta is 6th best in the league and over the last three games with Kyren Williams back the Rams are third best in the league.
This is a huge flag heading into the final four.
#1 Playing it out
And what the Carolina win likely means is we're playing this out.
It sure looks like the NFC South is coming down to the last weekend.
If you wanted an elimination a housecleaning and reboot of the franchise. A loss to Carolina might have kick-started it. But it didn't happen.
These are the final four opponents of all three teams. I don't think any of these three teams are going unbeaten over the last four.
Holding serve against the Panthers essentially means. Everything is still possible. From a playoff berth to a complete housecleaning.
With four weeks to go.
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