Panthers broke a 20-year, 275-game trend in their Week 9 win over the Saints

Matt Alquiza | Nov 3, 2024

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

Sunday was a once in a generation performance by the Carolina Panthers. Not because they played lights out, setting offensive records and lighting up the scoreboard in the process, but because they eked out a win after being outplayed in mostly every facet by the New Orleans Saints.

A 20-year streak broken on Sunday

Saints outgained the Panthers by 150+ yards, ran for 150+ yards, and won the turnover battle

Over the last 20 years, teams had gone 275-0 with that formula.

Now 275-1.
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) November 3, 2024

The post above tells the entire story. For the most part, the New Orleans Saints were the better football team on Sunday. Alvin Kamara was ubiquitous when the Saints possessed the ball, getting everything he wanted on the ground. New Orleans' defense mostly held the Carolina offense in check, stopping the Carolina offense on six of ten defensive possessions. On many occasions like today, the Saints would have walked out of Charlotte with an easy divisional victory to right their sinking ship.

Not so fast my friend.

Penalties zapped New Orleans' momentum over and over and over and over (I could keep going) again. The Saints were called for 10 penalties, racking up 109 negative yards due to their miscues. A third and 30 on their second to last offensive possession turned into a punt that allowed Bryce Young and friends a chance to drive down the field for the game-winning score.

A performance like that usually leads to a head or two being rolled. Dennis Allen, Derek Carr, and Clink Kubiak had the Saints' on the top of the NFL world after dominating Carolina and the Dallas Cowboys through the season's first two weeks. It turns out they were always a paper tiger that feasted on lesser opposition. Something has to change.

Unrest in and around the franchise has heated up in the hours following today's game, alerting all eyes to the Big Easy this week to see how the franchise responds to a frankly embarrassing loss at the hand of the Carolina Panthers.