Panthers vs. Saints: Complete Week 14 Preview for New Orleans
After scoring an impressive upset victory on the road, the New Orleans Saints will return home to face the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The visiting Saints (5-7) toppled the homestanding Pittsburgh Steelers a week ago, as they relied on an explosive passing attack and a powerful running game.
With the win, New Orleans snapped a losing skid in which it had uncommonly dropped three straight contests at home. Such an occurrence is extremely rare for the Saints, who typically enjoy an overwhelming home-field advantage in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Now, coach Sean Payton’s squad returns to its home venue to face the reeling Panthers (3-8-1).
Before the Saints bested the Steelers, Carolina was the last team New Orleans had defeated this season. The Saints beat up on the Panthers, 28-10, in a Thursday night clash in Week 9, but they weren't able to come away with a single victory over the course of a three-game homestand.
As the Saints try and pull off the season sweep of the Panthers, they’ll also be fighting to keep pace with the division-leading Atlanta Falcons, who share a 5-7 record with New Orleans. It’s the Falcons, however, who currently sit in first place in the NFC South, thanks to a Week 1 win over Payton's club.
Despite their substandard overall record, the Saints still have a lot to play for this season, and they'll be looking to hold serve at home against the Panthers this weekend.
Continue reading for a complete preview of this important Week 14 matchup, which kicks off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT.
Week 13 Recap
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With almost no one giving them much of a chance, the Saints marched into Heinz Field last week and came away with a 35-32 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
New Orleans was extremely slow getting out of the gate on offense, but once Drew Brees and Co. got rolling midway through the second quarter, there was no slowing them down.
The Saints worked the Steelers with the short pass as well as the deep ball, as Brees tossed for five touchdowns on the afternoon while leading his unit up and down the field. At one point, New Orleans scored touchdowns on five out of six possessions.
Meanwhile, Mark Ingram did his part on the ground, as he piled up 122 rushing yards.
Defensively, the Saints withstood a couple of lengthy Pittsburgh drives and forced field goals in the early going, and they held down the fort while the offense sputtered to start the game.
Cam Jordan enjoyed his finest game of the season, as he knocked down two Ben Roethlisberger pass attempts and plucked one of them out of the air for an interception. The defensive end also recorded New Orleans’ only sack of the game, although outside ‘backer Junior Galette brought the heat on a number of plays.
The Saints led 35-16 with just under four minutes to go in the game, when the Steelers suddenly rallied against a prevent New Orleans defense.
Pittsburgh scored two touchdown and successfully converted two-point attempts after each score, but it was too little, too late, and the Saints held on for the upset victory.
News and Notes
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Saints-Panthers Series
The Panthers have only been in existence since 1995, when they entered the NFL as an expansion franchise.
They’ve butted heads with the Saints twice per year since then, as the two teams have clashed as divisional foes in both the old NFC West and in the current NFC South, which was formed after the divisions were realigned in 2002.
As it now stands, Carolina holds a 20-19 lead in the series, and the Saints will be attempting to knot things up with a win this weekend.
Home-field advantage hasn’t been especially helpful in this series, as the visiting team has claimed at least one victory in four of the last five seasons.
In fact, the Panthers don’t have to look back very far to find their most recent victory in the Superdome. Rivera's club escaped with a 44-38 win over the homestanding Saints in 2012, although New Orleans blasted the visiting Panthers, 31-13, last season.
Saints-Panthers isn’t a rivalry that inspires quite the same vitriol as Saints-Falcons does, but it’s still a heated divisional rivalry that typically produces intense, hard-hitting football games.
Stills Heating Up
With first-round draft pick Brandin Cooks on injured reserve, the Saints were in need of another wideout to step up and fill the void in the passing game.
Second-year man Kenny Stills answered the bell in a big way, and he’s coming off the best performance of his young career against the Steelers. The former Oklahoma Sooner hauled in six receptions for 162 yards and a score, and this effort served to follow up a nine-catch 98-yard outing the week before against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.
Stills possesses high-end speed as well as top-notch ball skills, and the Saints will need their 2013 fifth-round draft pick to deliver if they’re to make a run at the playoffs.
Injury Report
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New Orleans has been hit with a barrage of injuries this season, some of which have ended the seasons of key players, but the team’s injury report was rather light this week.
On Friday afternoon, the Saints released their final injury report for the week on the team’s official site, NewOrleansSaints.com.
The only player who was limited in workouts on Friday was starting running back Mark Ingram, who’s suffering from injuries to his ankle and toe. He is listed as probable for Sunday’s game.
Also listed as probable are running backs Khiry Robinson (forearm) and Travaris Cadet (hamstring), along with linebacker Kyle Knox (hand).
The Saints will especially welcome the return of Robinson. The second-year back has missed the last six games, and the New Orleans offense could certainly use more depth in the backfield.
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X-Factor and Matchups to Watch
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Keenan Lewis vs. Kelvin Benjamin
This perimeter battle was one of the key matchups of the first Saints-Panthers meeting, and it should be again on Sunday.
At 6’5” and 240 pounds, rookie Carolina wideout Kelvin Benjamin presents a challenging assignment for any corner who lines up across from him.
The 2014 first-round pick has hauled in 57 passes for 800-plus yards this year, and he’s reached the end zone eight times.
Benjamin met his match in the Panthers’ first meeting with the Saints, however, as No. 1 New Orleans cover man Keenan Lewis followed him in shadow coverage for the majority of the contest.
The veteran corner locked Benjamin down in the Saints' dominant road win, and the rookie finished with a season-low 18 receiving yards on just two catches.
If Carolina is to have a chance this Sunday, Benjamin will have to shake free of Lewis and contribute to the Panthers’ struggling passing game, which has produced just six touchdowns and nine interceptions during the team’s current six-game losing skid.
Saints Defensive Front vs. Panthers Offensive Line
While many eyes will be fixed on the outside matchup between Lewis and Benjamin, the battle on the interior could profoundly impact the game when the Panthers are on offense.
To say that Carolina has struggled in pass protection this season would be an understatement.
The Panthers’ injury-riddled offensive line has yielded 37 sacks this season, which is fifth-most in the NFL. The unit gave up four sacks to the Saints in the previous meeting this year, as New Orleans linebacker Junior Galette dropped Cam Newton twice.
Newton did enjoy some success running the ball against the Saints that night, and New Orleans would be best-served on Sunday by keeping him in the pocket and forcing him to throw the football.
As the edge-rushers on the Saints’ defensive front, Jordan and Galette will be burdened with this task. If they can keep the big Carolina signal-caller confined to the pocket, New Orleans has a great chance of earning another win.
Their first objective, however, will be winning the battle against the Carolina offensive front, which shouldn’t prove to be an overly difficult chore. The Panthers have surrendered 15 sacks in their last three games. This doesn’t bode well for Carolina's chances on Sunday amid the deafening roar of the Superdome crowd.
Saints' X-Factor of the Week: Jimmy Graham
Drew Brees completed 19 passes last Sunday in the win over the Steelers, but remarkably, not one of them went to Jimmy Graham.
The Pro Bowl tight end was bottled up by famed Pittsburgh coordinator Dick LeBeau and his defense, as Brees turned to other targets in the passing game.
Don’t expect a repeat of this scenario on Sunday.
Graham had a big day in the Saints’ Week 6 triumph over Carolina, and there’s no reason to think Brees won’t look his way against the likes of Roman Harper, Thomas DeCoud and the other Panthers defensive backs.
Prediction
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Predicting the Saints' games has admittedly been difficult this season. Payton's squad has been highly inconsistent, and it's found ways to lose games in myriad ways.
It’s tough to see the Panthers winning this one, however. Coach Ron Rivera’s struggling football team limps into the contest, having lost six in a row.
Cam Newton and the Carolina offense shouldn't expect much southern hospitality from the raucous Superdome crowd, and everything they earn on Sunday will likely come the hard way. The unit will be attempting to get on track against a fired-up New Orleans defense that comes marching in with renewed confidence following last week’s road win.
Offensively, the Saints were highly efficient on the road last Sunday in Pittsburgh, and they’ll be looking to carry that momentum into their home stadium against the Panthers.
Look for New Orleans to use a balanced attack to find the end zone early and often in this one—and for the Saints to complete the season sweep on Carolina in convincing fashion.
Prediction: Saints 31, Panthers 14
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