The Panthers are Currently...Tied for First & a Playoff Team? Believe it
If you had been asked before the season what was more likely through five weeks, what would you have thought was likelier: the Carolina Panthers having a losing record and in the mix for a high draft pick or sitting at 3-2, tied for first place in the NFC South and in the wild card mix? Probably the former, right?
Well, here we are. The Panthers defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 23-16, to win their third straight game and first in the NFC South and move into a tie for first place in the NFC South with the 3-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
| NFC South Standings heading into Monday Night Football |
|---|
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2 |
Carolina Panthers 3-2 |
New Orleans Saints 2-2 |
Atlanta Falcons 0-5 |
The Panthers would fall to third in the division if the Saints defeat the Chargers on Monday night. The fact remains the same, the Panthers will be tied for first place after five weeks, something many thought would have been insane to happen with the rebuild the Panthers were undergoing.
The Panthers are also tied (pending the Saints' result Monday night) for the last playoff spot in the NFC with the Cardinals and have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
| NFC Wild Card Standings entering Monday Night Football |
|---|
Los Angeles Rams 4-1 |
Chicago Bears 4-1 |
Carolina Panthers 3-2 |
Arizona Cardinals 3-2 |
New Orleans Saints 2-2 |
Matt Rhule and this coaching staff deserve a ton of credit for getting this team extremely confident very quickly. Not only that, but this offense has not skipped a beat even with the loss of Christian McCaffrey. Carolina has posted over 300 yards of offense in each game during this three-game winning streak, including over 400 yards of offense in their last two wins over the Falcons and the Arizona Cardinals.
Carolina has moved up to No. 7 overall in total offense and currently is in the top ten in passing yards per game with just a smidgen under 400 yards per game. Teddy Bridgewater is fifth in the NFL with 1,460 passing yards, behind only Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes and Matt Ryan. And we all know by now what happened to Prescott.
It also helps win games when you're 5/7 in the red zone over the last two weeks and have only committed one turnover and have a +5 turnover differential during this three-game winning streak.
So the question becomes can this team actually make a run to the playoffs? You look down the schedule and see at least four games where the Panthers could be favored (Bears, Falcons, Lions, Washington). That gets the Panthers to seven wins. Two more gets them to nine and that could be all it takes now that seven teams make the playoffs in each conference. And those two might come Week 12 against the Vikings and Week 14 against the Broncos. Minnesota is 1-4 after a gut-punch of a loss against the Seahawks and the Broncos are 1-3 and banged up with a number of players lost for the season. Denver also just had a forced bye week while Carolina will be coming off their bye when the Broncos come to town.
Before the season, we discussed Carolina as a potential contender for the No. 1 pick in the draft and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. Now it may be time to seriously talk about them as a dark horse playoff contender.
