The good news about this loss is that I totally saw it coming and believe that my team, the Carolina Panthers, are only rated as high as they are because of a few very strange upset wins and the fact that they have had one of the weakest schedules of any team in the NFL.
That being said, there really isn't any excuse for a team that is in first place in their division losing to a team that is in last place in that same division.
Another wonderful thing that happened in this game was that the game winning field goal was made by Charlie Smyth, who is only the 2nd Irish player in the NFL of all time. This guy is really something special because that game-winning field goal was from 47 yards and it absolutely soared through the uprights. I think he could have made it had he been 10 yards further back.
He made every kick he attempted in this game with 2 field goals and two PAT's(points after touchdown). This means that 8 of the total 20 points the Saints had can be attributed to the Irishman.
One thing that is also a major takeaway from this game is that Carolina actually looked pretty damn good for the first 3 quarters of the game but let's be fair, you really should look good against a team that has only won 3 out of 13 games up to that point. The Saints are now 4-10 with 2 of their 4 wins being wins over Carolina.
For any Carolina fans out there trying to keep hope alive though, because the Tampa Bay Bucs also dropped a game against an inferior opponent, the race is still tied in the NFC South
Fluke losses are a rarity for Tampa Bay though, and the only way that Carolina can advance to the playoffs is if they win at least one game against.... Tampa Bay. Those games should be really fun to watch because for both teams, they will be the most consequential games of the season. I think that either of them will get absolutely destroyed in the playoffs though so no matter which of them advances it is almost certainly going to just add a single game to their season.
The playoff picture is still very much alive for most teams though with a few teams that is is now a mathematical impossibility for them to qualify. NY Jets (terrible), Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns (notoriously bad as a legacy), Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders (maybe one of the worst teams of all time), The Kansas City Chiefs (this one was a shocker), The Washington Redskins (I refuse to call them by their new stupid name), The NY Giants (terrible), Minnesota Vikings (very tough division), Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and the Arizona Cardinals cannot possibly make the playoffs regardless of how the rest of their games pan out.
Can Carolina defeat Tampa Bay? I think there isn't much chance of that. But one thing is for sure, they are going to be trying a lot harder than they probably have in any game of the season up to this point. At the moment the Bucs are favored by 2.5 points by Las Vegas lines.
Of course even if Carolina were to win BOTH games against the Tampa Bay team, they will almost certainly get absolutely wrecked by the Seattle Seahawks, who are currently one of the best teams in the NFL.
It's going to be an exciting next 3 weeks for NFL fans!