Carolina Panthers cornerback Captain Munnerlyn was eating lunch and watching ESPN this week when he saw an item roll across the scroll:
The Panthers have a 30 percent chance of beating the Saints in their NFC wild-card game Sunday, according to ESPN's football power index.
Munnerlyn was taken aback a bit.
"I was like, man, it's the playoffs. It's anybody's game. Both teams are 11-5," Munnerlyn said. "We know they beat us twice already, don't get me wrong. But it's the playoffs. It's a new season. Nobody cares about record. Nobody cares about who's their quarterback and things like that. We've got to go out there and we've got to execute and we've got to compete with those guys."
The Panthers will arrive at the Superdome as 6.5-point underdogs, and hardly anyone is giving them a chance to move on in the playoffs.
If Munnerlyn felt slighted by ESPN's FPI, he won't like this much: As of Friday morning, 60 of 62 experts were predicting a Saints' victory on Sunday, according to nflpickwatch.com.
It's a completely different vibe from the Panthers' previous postseason game _ when they were they overwhelming favorites against Denver in Super Bowl 50.
But the Panthers, after rolling through the regular season at 15-1 in 2015 and winning a pair of playoff games at home, fell to the Broncos 24-10 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Carolina's path back to a Super Bowl this year would likely have to be a three-week road trip. The only way the fifth-seeded Panthers would host a playoff game would be if they were to meet No. 6 seed Atlanta in the NFC Championship Game.
"Obviously, we know we're probably not going to be at home like we were in '15. In '15 we knew if we won we'd be at home the whole time. It's kind of fun knowing you'll be in front of the home crowd," Panthers middle linebacker Luke Kuechly said. "But we've got to go down there and play hard. It's going to be a really good environment. That place is awesome. And it'll be rocking for the game this weekend."
