Last year, the Panthers scored a consolation prize victory Week 17 against a Saints team that was resting its stars for the playoffs. This year, Carolina is carrying another long losing streak (currently seven games) into the last week of the season. Their chances of upsetting New Orleans are not good. The Saints opened as 12.5-point favorites despite playing on the road.
As daunting as that sounds, the Panthers were able to compete with their division rivals earlier this season, losing by three points in New Orleans thanks to some kicker issues. Watch safety Eric Reid talk about potentially playing the spoiler this week.
Reid hasn’t been bad exactly but he’s played an unexceptional season.
Like the rest of Carolina’s secondary he has made too many mistakes in coverage, allowing explosive plays. Reid posted a season-high 11 solo tackles Week 12 against the Saints and he has a career-high 118 total so far but that’s more a sign of the first two levels of the defense not making stops rather than Reid doing something special.
Reid still has two more years left on the contract extension he signed in February.
