Carolina 31 @ New Orleans 34 Final - CBS

Scoring Plays:
1Q - NO - Latavius Murray 26 yd TD rush (PAT Good) | CAR 0, NO 7
1Q - NO - Drew Brees to Tre'Quan Smith 13 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | CAR 0, NO 14
1Q - CAR - Kyle Allen to DJ Moore 51 yd TD pass (PAT No Good - Wide Right) | CAR 6, NO 14
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2Q - NO - Wil Lutz 41 yd FG GOOD | CAR 6, NO 17
2Q - CAR - Joey Slye 41 yd FG GOOD | CAR 9, NO 17
2Q - CAR - Kyle Allen to Christian McCaffrey 1 yd TD pass (2PC No Good - Kyle Allen pass incomplete) | CAR 15, NO 17
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3Q - NO - Drew Brees to Jared Cook 20 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | CAR 15, NO 24
3Q - CAR - Joey Slye 52 yd FG GOOD | CAR 18, NO 24
3Q - NO - Drew Brees to Michael Thomas 3 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | CAR 18, NO 31
3Q - CAR - Christian McCaffrey 4 yd TD rush (PAT No Good - Wide Right) | CAR 24, NO 31
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4Q - CAR - Kyle Allen to DJ Moore 2 yd TD pass (PAT Good) | CAR 31, NO 31
4Q - NO - Wil Lutz 33 yd FG GOOD | CAR 31, NO 34
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Hello Who Dats & Who Datettes and welcome to the Week 12/Game 11 Saints Game Thread.

It's the 3rd of 4 straight weeks where your New Orleans Saints are battling a NFC South opponent, and today's a big one because a win today all but puts the NFC South Division Championship in our hands. In fact, a win today against Carolina gives the Saint a chance to clinch the NFC South Championship on Thanksgiving Thursday night in Atlanta.

Carolina for its part has had an up and down season riding the arm of back-up quarterback Kyle Allen and the feet of running back Christian McCaffrey. Allen took over for Cam Newton in week 3 following an 0-2 start and immediately led the Panthers to 4 straight wins, including a quality win over the Houston Texans. But the Panthers came back to Earth in week 8, the week after their bye, when they got trounced by the San Francisco 49ers 51-13. Including that 49er game, the Panthers have lost 3 of their last 4, including last week's 29-3 home drubbing by the suddenly resurgent Atlanta Falcons.

For his part, McCaffrey is the NFL's rushing leader heading into this week, averaging 105.9 rush yards per game and has 11 rushing TDs on the season. He also averages another 51.7 receiving yards per game and has another 3 TDs through the air. So doing the math, McCaffrey accounts for 157.6 of Carolina's 346.6 offensive yards per week... or about 45.5% of their TOTAL offense

After learning themselves about the rejuvenated Falcons 2 weeks ago, the Saints got back right last week with a dominant 34-17 road win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where the defense collected 4 interceptions off of Jameis Winston, even without their best cover corner, Marshon Lattimore. Of course, it was the Saints who got an early look at Kyle Allen in week 17 last year as Allen led the Panthers to a 33-14 win in the Superdome against a Saints team that was for the most part resting up for the playoffs, but allowing Allen to go for 16/27 for 228 yds & 2 TDs still didn't sit well with defensive leaders like Cam Jordan who says they learned a lot from that game last season and vow to not let that happen this season.

LET'S PUT THE DIVISION RACE OUT OF REACH AND START THE FOCUS ON A FIRST ROUND BYE!!!

A potentially troubling issue for the Saints run game popped up in the injury report this week as FB Zach Line has been ruled OUT of today's game with a knee injury. Line joins G Andrus Peat (forearm) & WR/KR Deonte Harris (hamstring) on the sideline. One positive, Marshon Lattimore (hamstring) did return to practice on Friday on a limited basis and is listed as QUESTIONABLE for today's game. While I wouldn't expect Lattimore to play today (apparently he was in a red non-contact jersey on Friday), that raises my hopes that he can go on Thursday in Atlanta a little.

Of the players on Carolina's 53-man roster, none have been officially ruled OUT of today's game (Cam Newton is on season-ending IR). CB Ross Cockrell (quadricep), T Dennis Daley (groin), & T Greg Little (knee) are all QUESTIONABLE to play today, with Cockrell (limited) the only one who wasn't a FULL participant at practice Friday.

Weather: The Superdome should be nice and comfy today... but this is 1 of those rare NOLA days where an open air stadium would actually be nice to have

Uniforms: Back home in the Dome... back in All-Black for today's game



Current Standings:
NFC South
Saints 8-2
Panthers 5-5
Falcons 3-7
Bucs 3-7

Want to listen to Zach Strief & Deuce McAllister instead of Jim Nantz & Tony Romo?
Find your local Saints Radio Network affiliate at this link

Today's Officials:
Referee: #55 Alex Kemp


Umpire: #49 Rich Hall
Down Judge: #63 Mike Carr
Line Judge: #32 Jeff Bergman
Field Judge: #117 John Jenkins
Side Judge: #104 Dale Shaw
Back Judge: #133 Steve Freeman

Inactive Lists:
CAR-
DE Wes Horton
RB Mike Davis
DE Marquis Haynes
CB Ross Cockrell
LB Jordan Kunaszyk
WR Brandon Zylstra
CB Corn Elder

NO-
G Andrus Peat
CBMarshon Lattimore
WR/KR Deonte Harris
TE Dan Arnold
FB Zach Line
DE Carl Granderson
T Ethan Greenidge