The New Orleans Saints could go from number two seed to out of the playoffs altogether depending on how the wild card standings shake out now that the Carolina Panthers won on Sunday and that leaves the Saints, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals fighting for two postseason spots in the conference.
The Saints have had trouble winning on the road this season and it came up again on Sunday and now the team needs to win out just to make the playoffs, as the Panthers can win the division with a win on Sunday. The Saints have the edge in the wild card over the Cardinals, but if they lose they will be out and while they have the tiebreaker now, the Cards showed how good they can be after defeating the Seattle Seahawks, who don't even have the number one seed locked up yet with the Panthers just one game back. The Seahawks are in great position though, as they have one more win than the Panthers and defeated them head to head in the regular season, but that may not be the criteria that get them the game, as they have a better conference record right now.
The Cards stayed alive with a win against the Seahawks at the Link and the 49ers can put themselves in better position with a win on Monday night football against the Atlanta Falcons, who the Panthers will play in Week 17. Two teams will make it in and the division races are not set yet either, as the NFC South, East and North are still up for grabs, while the west is already set for the Seahawks.
The Panthers can wrap their division up with a win, while the Bears and Packers play for the North and the Cowboys and Eagles play for the East division. This is the third year in a row that the Cowboys can win the NFC East and they host the Eagles, a team that just killed the Bears on Sunday.
Click here for the NFC wild card standings.
The Panthers are in the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the main reason was the play of Cam Newton and here is a look at the game from Reuters.com.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton engineered a last gasp touchdown drive to clinch a thrilling 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints and the Panthers' first trip in the National Football League playoffs since 2008 on Sunday.
After Drew Brees had marched New Orleans 97 yards, hitting Jimmy Graham for a go ahead touchdown, Newton went right to work to keep the Saints from clinching the NFC South division crown and a first round playoff bye.
With 55 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts, Newton took the Panthers 65 yards on five plays hitting Domenik Hixon with a 14-yard touchdown strike to stun the Saints and send the sellout Charlotte crowd into wild celebration.
While the Panthers improved to 11-4 and can wrap up the division with a win in the season finale next week the Saints slipped to 10-5 but could still clinch a post-season berth depending on other Sunday results. (Reuters)
