The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers will renew their rivalry again in 2012 when the Saints travel to Carolina on Sept. 16th. Though there games have been good for the Saints as of late those times may be changing. The Carolina Panthers are a team in transition and they now have what seems to be the key ingredient in successful NFL teams, a capable quarterback.
Cam Newton spent last season proving his critics wrong, passing for over 4,000 yards and maybe more importantly, proving he can still run the football in the NFL the way he did in college. His elusiveness is a factor that every defensive coordinator must face and the Saints are no different.
The New Orleans Saints have done a credible job against Newton under Sean Payton. In 2011 the Gregg Williams defense managed to slow him down in Carolina, enough to pull off a 30-27 win. Newton threw for two touchdowns but the Saints defense held him to 27 yards rushing. Later in the season when the Panthers played in New Orleans, Newton was less effective as the Saints rolled to some offensive records and Carolina was held to less than 200 yards passing.
In 2012 the Saints are operating under big changes. Sean Payton is out and the Saints will have replacements running the offense. As of this writing Drew Brees hasn’t been signed to a long term contract and it would be a disaster if he holds out. Assuming he’s under center the Saints offense should hold up their end of the bargain. But the New Orleans Saints defense under Steve Spagnuolo is still a mystery and will be for most of the season. The Panthers didn’t face the Rams last season so we have no yardstick to go by. What I will say is that Spagnuolo generally runs a defense that has less of a tendency to gamble than Williams did, which could be a knife that cuts either way.
Bottom line is that the Saints and Panthers will put on a tough NFC South rivalry performance and based on past experience you have to give New Orleans the edge. But all the factors that the Saints will be dealing with make them enough of an unkown that a Panthers win wouldn’t be shocking.
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+Eric Drouant
- Eric Drouant is a freelance writer producing sports articles across the web. Eric's other work is available at Eric Drouant Amazon Author
