Panthers, Saints look to turn the page on stunning defeats

That seems all out of reach for Carolina now, but if the Saints can ride a second-half turnaround to the playoffs, past a resurgent Tampa Bay that also won on Sunday to tie New Orleans at 4-5, they’ll have to get started Thursday night. Carolina has to win this game to keep its slim NFC Playoff chances alive for another week. “What we have to do now is we have to go forward”. “I’m keeping Luke in my prayers”.

Last week, the Panthers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs at home to snap a two game winning streak that had put hopes of a late season hot streak on hold. Since that thrashing, Carolina’s secondary has had an additional four weeks to gain some experience and the pass rush is significantly better, as the Panthers have racked up 15 sacks in their three games since that loss in New Orleans.

Four teams in National Football League history have made the playoffs after starting 3-6 and that’s what is staring the defending NFC champion Panthers in the face after their gut-wrenching home loss to Kansas City on Sunday. But if there’s a quarterback to pile on the pressure and expose a team’s frailties, it will be Brees. Safety Kurt Coleman intercepted Saints quarterback Drew Brees to set up the team’s first touchdown-a one-yard run by James Stewart. Santos trotted onto the field a couple plays later and calmly knocked a 37-yard field goal through to give the Chiefs another come-from-behind win.

The big picture of any football team is made up of a bunch of little pictures, snapshots that get strung together and create the character of the group.

A Gano 49-yard field goal under the three-minute mark gave the Panthers a 13-3 lead. But aerial detritus from the fires in western Carolina prompted the NWS to issue an air quality alert that’s in effect through midnight Thursday.

The Saints aren’t short on experience in tight games, something they figure will eventually pay off. “And also you wonder if it wasn’t a Thursday game and it was a Sunday game, would there be these type of injuries? That was it; I just took it from him”. “Not only our team but their team”.

Alex Smith threw for 178 yards and Spencer Ware ran for 61 yards for the Chiefs, who managed just 256 yards overall.

Newton was 14 of 33 and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr.to help the Panthers (4-6) win for third time in three games and pull even with the Saints for third place in the NFC South.

“With the type of talent we added back, it was destined to happen”, Robertson said, referring to his unit’s spike in big plays. “You can’t ask for the guys to do a better job”.

The Saints suffered one of the hardest losses of the season last weekend as they had the Denver Broncos on the ropes with a pending extra point putting them in the lead with under two minutes to play but then disaster struck.

After reaching the Saints’ 1 for first-and-goal, a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Panthers a first down at the six.