New Orleans Saints

Going into their Monday night matchup, the New Orleans Saints had a lot to play for against the Atlanta Falcons. First and foremost, the Saints could wrap up the NFC South and stay alive for a first round bye in the playoffs by defeating the Falcons. Also, Brees needed only 305 passing yards to break Dan Marino’s iconic passing yardage record. Both took place as the Saints defeated the Falcons 45-16.

New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons

Unfortunately, ESPN’s broadcast of Monday Night Football began with an intro by Betty White. I heard this was coming so I was cringing as the Saints vs. Falcons game came on the air. When people dream of a “White Christmas,” I’m not sure this is what they had in mind.

Trailing the Falcons 3-0, Pierre Thomas gave New Orleans the lead with a 4-yard run. However, Thomas was flagged 15 yards for putting a gold bow on the ball and handing it to a Saints fan. I was instantly brought back to December 14, 2003 when Saints WR Joe Horn used a cell phone in a primetime ESPN game vs. the New York Giants.

However, the main story of the first half was how Brees torched the Falcons through the air. In fact, Brees tallied 230 passing yards and two TDs through two quarters for the Saints. At the half, New Orleans led the Falcons 21-10 and Brees was within 75 yards of breaking the record.

In the second half, New Orleans’ best efforts came from a Darren Sproles kickoff return and a Malcolm Jenkins fumble return for a TD. Nevertheless, with 2:51 left in the game, Brees threw a 9-yard TD pass to Darren Sproles to break Marino’s record. The Saints accomplished everything they set out to do in defeating the Falcons 45-16.

Looking ahead

I’m not sure whether to look ahead to next week’s game against the Carolina Panthers or what may be a Saints vs. Falcons playoff game in two weeks. If it comes to pass, it would be a rematch 20 years in the making of the Saints vs. Falcons playoff game played after the 1991 season. I can’t imagine the Falcons upsetting this Saints team in the Superdome in the playoffs.

Patrick Michael was born and raised in New Orleans and currently resides in the Big Easy. As such, he is a lifelong, diehard New Orleans Saints fan. His highlight as a Saints fan was experiencing the magical Super Bowl season of 2009.

Sources

ESPN broadcast of Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints

“New York Giants 7 at New Orleans Saints 45,” pro-football-reference.com

“Atlanta Falcons 27 at New Orleans Saints 20,” pro-football-reference.com

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ATLANTA – Matt Ryan likes how the Atlanta Falcons are playing with two games left in the regular season.

He is even more pleased that the Falcons can rest this weekend while other NFC playoff contenders compete.

Atlanta (9-5) has won four of five and closes the regular season with games at New Orleans on Dec. 26 and at home against Tampa Bay on Jan. 1. The Falcons seem poised to make consecutive post-season appearances for the first time in their 46-year history.

“Four or five days off couldn’t come at a better time,” said Ryan, who threw three touchdown passes in a 41-14 victory over Jacksonville on Thursday night. “I think everybody will use this extended little break that we have to let our bodies heal a little bit so that we can be fresh when we go down and play New Orleans.”

Ryan believes his team is brimming with confidence even though it’s coming off consecutive wins over teams with a combined 8-19 record. The Falcons ripped off 65 consecutive points from the start of Sunday’s third quarter at Carolina to the 2:12 mark of Thursday’s third quarter.

“That’s what we need,” Ryan said. “We’re in a position where we have two games left now, and I think still control our own destiny. That’s the kind of football we need to play moving forward, and I think it’s good that we’re doing it at this time.”

Atlanta trails the NFC South-leading Saints by 1 1/2 games. New Orleans, which earned a 26-23 overtime victory five weeks ago at the Georgia Dome, takes a five-game winning streak into Sunday’s matchup with the Vikings in Minnesota.

With the top three NFC playoff spots likely to going to Green Bay, San Francisco and New Orleans, the Falcons would benefit if New York, Detroit, Chicago or Dallas loses this weekend. Atlanta currently has the fifth-best record in the race for the NFC’s six post-season berths.

The Falcons moved past a disappointing 17-10 loss at Houston two weeks ago by returning to the core principles that have fuelled their success under fourth-year coach Mike Smith.

They jumped out to a fast start against Jacksonville in all three phases of the game, building a 27-0 halftime lead with big plays on offence, defence and special teams.

Sean Weatherspoon helped Atlanta pull away with a key fumble recovery after Jacksonville muffed a punt in the second quarter. He fell on the loose ball at the five, and Michael Turner ran for a touchdown on the next snap to make it 17-0.

“Winning on a short week is never an easy proposition, but I really think our team handled it very well and I really think it showed the way that they worked in the ballgame,” Smith said after the Falcons improved to 27-1 in his tenure when they win the turnover battle.

“They started fast and I think that they played well for most part of the ballgame. I liked their effort and I liked that the guys played, and we got the result that we wanted. Now it’s an opportunity to try to go get (victory) No. 10.”

A 41-0 lead allowed Smith to rest Ryan for the final 17 minutes, a deserved break after his quarterback threw three touchdown passes in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Ryan completed 19 of 26 passes for 224 yards and is 22-0 when he records an NFL passer rating of 100 or higher.

Three-time Pro Bowl receiver Roddy White and rookie Julio Jones, the league’s No. 6 overall draft pick, combined to catch 15 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns.

“I feel like we played a good three quarters,” White said. “The fourth quarter, the starters were out, so we didn’t get a chance to see what we could do then. The first three were really, really good. We got after the quarterback, scored a lot of points on offence, and got down in the red zone and scored.”

Atlanta (9-5) has won four of five and closes the regular season with games at New Orleans on Dec. 26 and at home against Tampa Bay on Jan. 1. The Falcons seem poised to make consecutive postseason appearances for the first time in their 46-year history.

“Four or five days off couldn’t come at a better time,” said Ryan, who threw three touchdown passes in a 41-14 victory over Jacksonville on Thursday night. “I think everybody will use this extended little break that we have to let our bodies heal a little bit so that we can be fresh when we go down and play New Orleans.”

Ryan believes his team is brimming with confidence even though it’s coming off consecutive wins over teams with a combined 8-19 record. The Falcons ripped off 65 consecutive points from the start of Sunday’s third quarter at Carolina to the 2:12 mark of Thursday’s third quarter.

“That’s what we need,” Ryan said. “We’re in a position where we have two games left now, and I think still control our own destiny. That’s the kind of football we need to play moving forward, and I think it’s good that we’re doing it at this time.”

Atlanta trails the NFC South-leading Saints by 1½ games. New Orleans, which earned a 26-23 overtime victory five weeks ago at the Georgia Dome, takes a five-game winning streak into Sunday’s matchup with the Vikings in Minnesota.

With the top three NFC playoff spots likely to going to Green Bay, San Francisco and New Orleans, the Falcons would benefit if New York, Detroit, Chicago or Dallas loses this weekend. Atlanta currently has the fifth-best record in the race for the NFC’s six postseason berths.

The Falcons moved past a disappointing 17-10 loss at Houston two weeks ago by returning to the core principles that have fueled their success under fourth-year coach Mike Smith.

They jumped out to a fast start against Jacksonville in all three phases of the game, building a 27-0 halftime lead with big plays on offense, defense and special teams.

Sean Weatherspoon helped Atlanta pull away with a key fumble recovery after Jacksonville muffed a punt in the second quarter. He fell on the loose ball at the 5, and Michael Turner ran for a touchdown on the next snap to make it 17-0.

“Winning on a short week is never an easy proposition, but I really think our team handled it very well and I really think it showed the way that they worked in the ballgame,” Smith said after the Falcons improved to 27-1 in his tenure when they win the turnover battle.

“They started fast and I think that they played well for most part of the ballgame. I liked their effort and I liked that the guys played, and we got the result that we wanted. Now it’s an opportunity to try to go get (victory) No. 10.”

A 41-0 lead allowed Smith to rest Ryan for the final 17 minutes, a deserved break after his quarterback threw three touchdown passes in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Ryan completed 19 of 26 passes for 224 yards and is 22-0 when he records an NFL passer rating of 100 or higher.

Three-time Pro Bowl receiver Roddy White and rookie Julio Jones, the league’s No. 6 overall draft pick, combined to catch 15 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns.

“I feel like we played a good three quarters,” White said. “The fourth quarter, the starters were out, so we didn’t get a chance to see what we could do then. The first three were really, really good. We got after the quarterback, scored a lot of points on offense, and got down in the red zone and scored.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

In what has been an all too familiar refrain this season, the Panthers blew yet another fourth quarter lead Sunday in a 31-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers led by 16 at halftime and by 6 entering the final quarter, but their offense bogged down, and they were outscored 24-0 in the second half at home.

It’s the sixth time this season the Panthers have led or been tied in the fourth quarter only to lose.

“We still have a long ways to go as a football team,” coach Ron Rivera said. “We are a young team that has to understand you have to keep going and put the foot down on the accelerator, which we didn’t do.”

Cam Newton started strong, completing 9 of 14 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the first half as the Panthers built a 23-7 lead. But Newton was intercepted twice in the second half, one of them on a poor decision when he tried to shovel the ball ahead with his non-throwing left hand as he was falling to the ground.

“Both interceptions were my fault and you can’t do that,” Newton said. “If you expect to win in this league, you have to protect the football. I did a poor job in doing that today. Without those two picks, the team would have had a better chance of winning today.”

Matt Ryan seems to have Carolina’s number. He’s won six of his last seven starts against the Panthers.

Ryan threw for 320 yards, and his four TD passes matched a career high. He threw two of them in the fourth quarter to rookie Julio Jones to lead the Falcons (8-5) back.

The first time the teams met, the Falcons trailed by three points in the fourth quarter but rallied for a 31-17 win Oct. 16.

Jones, who finished with 104 yards receiving, was quiet for most of the game but caught a 17-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons a 24-23 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Despite their struggles in the second half, the Panthers looked poised to regain the lead, but Newton couldn’t hook up with Greg Olsen in the back of the end zone, and the Panthers had to settle for a 36-yard field goal attempt.

Olindo Mare, just as he’d done against Minnesota, pushed a potential go-ahead kick wide left.

“You can’t do that; you really can’t,” Rivera said.

Rivera said he planned to sit down with Mare — who was given a four-year, $12 million contract this offseason — to talk about what’s wrong.

“It’s the second one he’s hooked left, pretty much from almost the same area (on the field),” Rivera said.

The Falcons seized the momentum.

Two plays later, on second-and-11, Jones caught a pass over the middle, broke a tackle and raced 75 yards to the end zone.

Ryan was particularly sharp in the second half, throwing for 232 yards and three scores.

Looking to increase the tempo, the Falcons went to a no-huddle offense quite a bit in the second half and tried to take advantage of a matchup with reserve cornerback Darius Butler on Jones

Both of Jones’ touchdown catches came against Butler.

“You know, they were coming at me a few times with Julio,” Butler said. “They like that matchup. I made some plays early, and he made some big plays late. You’ve got to hold up. That’s the name of the game. You got to finish it out.”

The Panthers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

A glum Newton called his decision to try a shovel pass to Jonathan Stewart as he was being tackled “terrible.”

“I tried to get the ball to Stew and tried to avoid the sack,” he said. “I should have just ate the ball and taken the sack.”

Earlier this week, Rivera said this was a statement game for his young team. The statement was that their youth still shows.

And the Falcons took advantage.

“This game is about playing 60 minutes,” Falcons coach Mike Smith. “They’re not 30-minute ballgames, and I think that’s what our guys did good today.”

NOTES: The Falcons are 21-0 when Ryan has a quarterback rating of 100 or more. … Carolina’s Steve Smith became the 35th player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards receiving for his career on a 16-yard catch in the second quarter. … Travelle Wharton moved from left guard to left tackle for the Panthers to replace Jordan Gross, who sat out with a right ankle injury. Mackenzy Bernadeau started at Wharton’s regular spot at left guard. … With starting defensive tackles Sione Fua and Terrell McClain going on injured reserve earlier this week, Frank Kearse and Andre Neblett got the start for the Panthers.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

As a huge Carolina Panthers fan, you do not have to tell me about Michael Turner(notes) and his dominance of our rushing defense. The guy simply lines up and bowls us over every time we face the Atlanta Falcons. Now, with the Falcons coming into Bank of America stadium on Sunday, December 11th, my Panthers will have their work cut out for them. On the plus side, the Panthers enter that game red-hot, having won two in a row and rolling up the scoreboard for three straight games. Cam Newton(notes) has looked fantastic and the vaunted Carolina running game is rolling.

This game is going to be won and lost in the details. Here are a few match-ups that I think will play heavily in who wins the ball game:

Michael Turner versus the Panthers rush defense

We know that Turner is going to get his yards. The key is to keep him limited on carries, and somewhat limited on his yardage. Anything more than 100 is troublesome because it means the Falcons are set up for the play-action passing game. When Matt Ryan is working off play-action, he is a different quarterback. Force him to make big time plays against a nickel or dime, and you might beat the Falcons more often.

Cam Newton versus the Falcons secondary

Cam Newton needs to have a good passing game this week. He stunk up the joint in the first game against Atlanta, and it was really his only truly bad game of the year. Hopefully he can redeem himself in this one. Newton needs to get vertical in this game, and that means having time to throw the football.

Carolina’s offensive line versus the Falcons defensive pass rush

Of all the keys listed here, this one will tell the story the best. If the Panthers can keep the heat off of Cam, he will burn the Falcons either on the ground or through the air. If the Falcons can push the pocket around, they will have a better chance at slowing down this offense. Carolina has gotten much better at this the last couple of weeks. I expect this to be an unexpected win for the Panthers.

Carolina’s kick coverage versus Atlanta’s special teams

Carolina has made huge strides in this area, but it could still rear it’s ugly head. Hopefully, Rivera spent a good deal of time on this in practice this week. The Falcons always seem to burn us at least once. We can not afford to give them easy points in this match-up.

My prediction for the game

I think that the Panthers will win the football game, and it will be largely because of a great game from the offensive line. I like that match-up a great deal though I would not have earlier in the year. The Panthers are like a different team now, and should be ready for the Falcons. I do not think that Turner will be able to score enough points to keep up.

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The Panthers were hurting from injuries on defense even before losing rookies tackles Sione Fua and Terrell McClain for the year on Tuesday. They’ll be counting on second-year player Andre Neblett and undrafted rookie Frank Kearse to plug the middle and keep Turner from running wild — again.

Turner has destroyed the Panthers since joining the Falcons as unrestricted free agent in 2008, running for 651 yards and scored 11 touchdowns in his last six games.

“It kind of takes the wind out of your sails a little bit,” Rivera said of the injuries to Fua and McClain. “They both hit the rookie wall a few weeks ago and recovered and starting playing well again. It was disappointing.”

Fua suffered a significant right hamstring strain prior to Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay and didn’t play. McClain sprained his left knee during the first half and did not return.

Rivera said it’s unclear if either will need surgery.

“It’s a shame because just as Fua and McClain were learning and growing and finally realizing where they need to be something like this happens,” said linebacker James Anderson. “But that’s been the story of the season.”

The Panthers, who have 14 players on injured reserve, have learned time and time again the lesson of “the next guy up.”

In this case it will be Kearse, signed off Miami’s practice squad earlier in the year, and Neblett, who has bounced back from a slow start this season to play extremely well. Rivera said Kearse will start at nose tackle for Fua, while Neblett will play the three-technique in the team’s 4-3 defense.

“I have to do the same thing I’ve been doing, now I just have to do it as a starter,” Neblett said.

Said Rivera: “I’m excited to see what they can do.”

The Falcons are coming off a big loss last week against Houston and need to make a strong push the final four weeks of the season if they hope to return to the NFC playoffs beginning with Sunday’s game.

Falcons wide receiver Roddy White has seen what Turner can do to the Panthers and expects they’ll lean heavily on him again this week.

In Atlanta’s 31-17 win over the Carolina in October at the Georgia Dome Turner ran for 139 yards and scored twice

“He’s going to be real big, especially this week,” White said. “He’s had a lot of success against these guys. We always get off to a good start and get the ball in his hands. He opens up the play action pass for us. In this game, it’s really crucial to get him off to a really, really good start, just let him pound those guys for a little while then throw it over their heads. He’s going to be a real focal point this week.

Then White added with a smile, “Hey, we might run it 50 times. I don’t know if he’s going to have 50 carries, but we might run it 50 times.”

In the past six games against the Panthers, Turner has eclipsed 100 yards rushing in five games.

“I don’t know what it is about Carolina,” Turner said. “It always seems like we’re playing them coming off a loss. We lost last week, so we’ve got to go out there and play hard.

Turner said there’s no extra added personal motivation in playing Carolina, adding that he’s simply doing his job.

But Turner is certainly aware of how well he’s run against the Panthers since coming to Atlanta.

So too are the Panthers.

“He’s a big physical back and we know we have to come ready to play, similar to what we did last week,” Neblett said.

A week ago the Panthers held Tampa Bay’s LaGarrette Blount to 19 yards on 11 carries in part because they jumped out to an early lead.

That’s something the Panthers may need to replicate against the Falcons.

Rivera said the key for the team’s new defensive tackles will be to stay in their gaps and not try to do too much.

“He has a great low center of gravity and runs with his shoulders over his knees and his pad level down,” Rivera said of Turner. “The big thing with him is you can’t allow him to get started because he is tough to bring down. And they have a good scheme and block it very well.”

Notes: Rivera gave a pair of veterans — wide receiver Steve Smith and tight end Jeremy Shockey — Wednesday off to rest. Also, free safety Charles Godfrey (sprained right shoulder), Travelle Wharton (back), offensive Jordan Gross (right ankle), tight end Greg Olsen (right knee) and linebacker Jason Phillips (right calf) sat out practice, although none of the injuries appear serious. … Kick returner Kealoha Pilares practiced full after missing last week’s game with a strained right quadriceps.

___

AP Sports Writer Paul Newberry in Flowery Branch, Ga., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes has been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Carolina while he recovers from minor knee surgery.

Grimes had surgery on his right knee last week and is expected to miss two to four games. Dominique Franks could make his second straight in the Falcons’ banged-up secondary.

Another cornerback, Kelvin Hayden, has missed two straight games with a toe injury. And safety William Moore hasn’t played the last four weeks because of a quadriceps and groin injury. Coach Mike Smith says “when you’re dealing with two major muscle groups, you want to make sure that he’s ready to go before we put him back out there.”

When Moore returns, he’ll have to win back his job from James Sanders.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes has been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Carolina while he recovers from minor knee surgery.

Grimes had surgery on his right knee last week and is expected to miss two to four games. Dominique Franks could make his second straight in the Falcons’ banged-up secondary.

Another cornerback, Kelvin Hayden, has missed two straight games with a toe injury. And safety William Moore hasn’t played the last four weeks because of a quadriceps and groin injury. Coach Mike Smith says “when you’re dealing with two major muscle groups, you want to make sure that he’s ready to go before we put him back out there.”

When Moore returns, he’ll have to win back his job from James Sanders.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes has been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Carolina while he recovers from minor knee surgery.

Grimes had surgery on his right knee last week and is expected to miss two to four games. Dominique Franks could make his second straight in the Falcons’ banged-up secondary.

Another cornerback, Kelvin Hayden, has missed two straight games with a toe injury. And safety William Moore hasn’t played the last four weeks because of a quadriceps and groin injury. Coach Mike Smith says “when you’re dealing with two major muscle groups, you want to make sure that he’s ready to go before we put him back out there.”

When Moore returns, he’ll have to win back his job from James Sanders.

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons may be looking more like a playoff team in the standings than on the field.

Atlanta (7-4) has won five of six games. There have been some struggles, including Sunday’s 24-14 win over Minnesota. The Falcons led the Vikings 17-0 and needed a goal-line stand to stop the Vikings’ comeback.

One week earlier, the Falcons led the Titans by 20 points before winning 23-17.

Coach Mike Smith said Monday the Falcons have moved up after a 2-3 start to become relevant for the final weeks of the regular season.

“We’ve always said that we always want to position ourselves to be a relevant team in November and December, and the teams that have sustainability are the ones that are relevant in November and December,” Smith said.

A favorable schedule could help the Falcons, who were No. 6 in the NFC playoff standings before Monday night’s Saints-Giants game.

The Falcons still play three teams — Carolina, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay — who are a combined 13 games under .500. This week they will face the Houston Texans, who are missing their top two quarterbacks. Matt Schaub already was out for the season with a foot injury when the Texans likely lost Matt Leinart for the season because of a broken collarbone in Sunday’s victory against the Jaguars.

The Falcons also had a break against Minnesota when Vikings star Adrian Peterson was held out with a sprained left ankle.

Smith said the Falcons are winning with more than good fortune. He said they have earned their wins.

“You can look back, big picture, and say this game could have gone this way, this game could have gone that way,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”

Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton said the good news is the team hasn’t peaked.

“As much as we like to blow a team out, we understand that can’t happen all the time,” Lofton said. “The concerning part for me as a team is our consistency throughout the game. We have to figure out a way to put four good quarters together, rather than in chunks. I believe when we do that, we will be where we want to be in terms of consistency and in all aspects of the game.”

The Vikings held Michael Turner to 60 yards rushing on 19 carries. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan continued his strong play as he completed 27 of 34 passes for 262 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Ryan has nine TD passes with two interceptions in his last four games.

“It was obviously his best day percentage-wise, and he did a real nice job distributing the ball,” Smith said. “I think he had a real good feel for how they were going to try to defend us and did a great job throwing the football.”

Receiver Julio Jones did not have a catch in his return from a right hamstring injury, but Roddy White had 10 receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown. White, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has 17 catches for 267 yards in his last two games.

White has delivered back-to-back impressive games after he received criticism for his two penalties and two drops in Atlanta’s overtime loss to New Orleans on Nov. 13.

“Roddy has had two very efficient games the last two weeks,” Smith said. “I think you see a very focused player out on the practice field, and I think that’s carrying over to his play on the field.”

Smith said he would have no update before Wednesday on cornerback Brent Grimes, who left the game with a right knee injury.

Having a two game lead over the second-place Atlanta Falcons and owning the tie breaker over all three NFC South teams has to help the New Orleans Saints rest easy during their bye week. To help them even more, all three of their NFC South counterparts are facing tough competition in week eleven. The Falcons are facing a tough Tennessee Titans squad, and the Bucs are playing on the road against the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. The Carolina Panthers, likely relegated to spoiler status at this point, face off against the Detroit Lions in Motown.

Atlanta hosts Tennessee after trying to forget the one that got away

Atlanta has to be feeling pretty down after letting the victory over the Saints get away in week ten. An overtime loss to the Saints is nothing to generally feel bad about, but a controversial call by Falcons coach Mike Smith during overtime led to questions all week long. Smith decided to go for it on fourth down on the 29 yard line, was stopped, and then gave up the field goal a couple plays later. Instead of taking over first place, they dropped to second in the win column to the Saints.

Tennessee whipped the Carolina Panthers in week ten and looked great doing so. Chris Johnson finally looked like the running back that everyone thought he should be, and the Titans defense shut down one of the most explosive offenses in the league.

I expect that the Falcons will struggle some, but they will pull out the important victory over the Titans. Atlanta has not loss two in row all season long, and they won’t start this week.

Tampa Bay trying to right the ship after tough stretch

When you are trying to find your sea legs in the NFC South, the last thing you want to see is a trip to Lambeau on the schedule. This is especially true against this year’s version of the Packers. Aaron Rodgers(notes) is looking like the best quarterback in the league so far, and the Bucs have little to no chance in this game. They have everything going against them that they can have. They are travelling to one of the toughest venues. They are a warm weather team playing in cold weather. They are not playing well. And oh, by the way, the Packers are undefeated and the best team in the league.

Good luck with that Tampa.

Cam Newton(notes) and the Panthers try to play spoiler in Motown

Cam Newton had the worst game of his career against the Tennessee Titans in week ten, and he still was not all that bad. The team was bad, but Newton was just worse than usual. Perhaps he is slowing down a little, but I doubt it. I think it was the constant pressure from the Titans and a great defensive game plan that hurt Newton mostly. Either way, the going should be easier for the offense on Sunday when they face a Detroit defense that gives up plenty of yards and points. This game will be a shootout and will likely hinge on how well Cam plays.

I think in the end, the Lions will have too much firepower and win the game, but I would not be at all surprised to see the Panthers win either. It all really depends on how they come to play.

*Southern is a huge NFL and Carolina Panthers football fan that has followed the team since the very beginning. He still thinks that Tom Brady(notes) is the enemy and that Steve Smith will win a Super Bowl before it is said and done.

More from this contributor:

Three Losing NFL Teams that Are Ready to Win Now: Fan’s Opinion

Can Steve Smith Break Jerry Rice’s Single Season Receiving Record?: A Fan’s Opinion

Why It’s Not Fair to Compare Cam Newton and Andy Dalton: A Fan’s Perspective

Steve Smith Breaks All Time Carolina Panthers Receiving Record: A Fan’s Reaction

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