Falcons laying an egg like that to me says more about them not being a contender than the panthers suddenly being good
no division games are easy (well I mean saints look like they are trying for Archie’s grandson) but you know what in mean
I don't think it was a fluke as Penix was under 200 yards passing. And the rest of the yardage Falcons raked up was garbage yards that didn't change the outcome of the game. Evero's game plan paid off for the Panthers defense, because Bijan didn't reach 100 yards on the ground alone and that was enough to seal the win. But keeping Penix under 200 yards passing with 36 attempts was the tell of the game. The flip side was the Panthers offense was very methodical as Young passed for even less yards. But the Panthers cashed in on opportunities and that was the difference in the game. Canales had his team ready for situational football and out competed Morris's team.
Moving onto the Saints well Rattler wasn't the main reason they lost but he isn't really the answer. He is constantly having high amount of passing attempts and he fails to reach 300 yards passing. I mean 39 passing attempts and he had 218 passing yards is really bad. Still, the Saints patchwork OL may be a culprit but really their defense is out of it so far and special teams was worse than the Bucs which is hard to believe but it is true.
And like clockwork the Vikings were back to pummeling opponents and they are not at full strength yet.
It looks like the rest of the division is starting to show some life. The Falcons are up down week to to week as one week the look like contenders and next week they are being curbstomped. They basically are a .500 ball club until they really show some consistency.
The Saints landed a win and they haven't played a lot of bad football outside of their ST debacle against Seattle weeks ago. Rattler pushed the ball downfield and made the Giants pay but also landed him his first career win but also first win for a Saints drafted QB in ages. Saints secondary which was called the weakness of the team actually carried them to victory against the Giants.
The Panthers look like a renewed team with renewed focus and effort. Canales knows that his team will live or die with that beefy OL and running game.
The NFCS is looking to be a lot tougher now that we are beyond the quarter point of the season. Bucs are still in the driver seat but it will be a more competitive NFCS this year compared to last year.
The Panthers look like a renewed team
I think they were down 17-0 at one point? If that is right then to keep playing to win it is really a credit to the players and Canales. I am not sure they are a good team, but that kind of win could propel them to play their best.
the question shouldn't be about this atrocious division but rather.....can we get the #1 seed?
we have showed all season and in particular yesterday, that we can win games despite injuries
think about yesterday, facing a 3-1 team on the west coast without our Evans, McMillian, Irving, Goedeke, Morrison and Dean.
factor in it was game 2 for Wirfs and Godwin practically still in pre-season reps and this team can be very scary if healthy
To me, there's 6 games left that should be easy double digit TD type wins - Car (x2), No (x2), Arizona, and Miami. That's 10 wins right there.
You then have 3 tough games - @DET, @LAR, @BUF. Winning one of those, likely locks up a #1 seed but could be looking at 0-3 there.
then there's 3 toss up games that are all home and that we should win - SF, NE, ATL.
Anything less than 12 wins would mean something went wrong down the stretch.
think about yesterday, facing a 3-1 team on the west coast without our Evans, McMillian, Irving, Goedeke, Morrison and Dean.
factor in it was game 2 for Wirfs and Godwin practically still in pre-season reps and this team can be very scary if healthy
Wirfs was a huge part of the win, but Godwin is a fraction of himself still. Yes though, the win was huge under any circumstances but really huge when you factor in the things you mention.