The Panthers went into Sunday’s game in New Orleans with a clear path to the NFC South title.
A win over the Saints would allow them to clinch the division by beating the Buccaneers at home in Week 16 and it looked like they were on their way to getting that win when they went up by 10 points in the third quarter. The Saints scored the next 13 points, however, and Charlie Smyth’s field goal with seconds to play handed the Panthers a 20-17 loss.
It was a painful way to end a game, but the Panthers still play the Bucs twice in the final three weeks and defensive lineman Derrick Brown noted that leaves the team with a chance to make a happier ending to the season.
“It’s great to still have everything in front of us, right? Like you’ve got to put this s–t behind us and get back to work,” Brown said, via the team’s website. “You can’t sit here and suck on this because you’ve got to go back to work and get ready for tomorrow and get ready to play Tampa Bay next weekend. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. I mean, we’ve got to go out here and we got to get it now. I mean, it is what it is. It’s been that way since Day 1, right? We started off 1-3, and you know it’s the same mentality, right? Nothing has come easy for us this season. So I mean now we’ve got to go back and go to work.”
The Panthers have alternated wins and losses in their last eight games and that’s kept the division up for grabs while the Bucs have struggled. Continuing that trend will get them into the playoffs, but no one around the team would mind a winning streak to close out the regular season.
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