What in the world has happened to the Carolina Panthers? Well, a variety of things, including injuries. But the world doesn't really care for those kinds of things, and we doubt that it is going to be the thing that saves Ron Rivera's job, if it is indeed in jeopardy. Right now this is a desperate team, as they take the field against the New Orleans Saints in the Monday night game that kicks off at 8:15 PM ET at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

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The Panthers are currently on a five-game losing skid, and that is no fun. Some of this has tied into the shoulder problems Cam Newton has been having, even though he has insisted that he's been playing some of the best football of his career. Well, maybe he has, considering the circumstances. In these last five games he has run the ball 23 times for 131 yards.

His quarterback rating has also been very substandard in these last two losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns (66.2 and 70, respectively).

Yet the Panthers are not out of the playoff race, thanks to the 6-2 start they had. One might expect them to come up with a "max" effort in this game against New Orleans, which has all but wrapped up the home field advantage throughout the NFC side of the playoffs, with a one-game lead and head-to-head edge over the Los Angeles Rams.

So the situation with the Panthers is that they are 6-7, and with Philadelphia and Washington winning on Sunday, they have to win to be tied with those teams at 7-7. But even that trio is a half-game behind Minnesota in the race for the NFC's second wild card spot. The Panthers not only play the Saints on Monday, they also face them in the season finale, which actually may be a break for them if New Orleans has guaranteed itself the #1 NFC seed by then. 

In the Monday night NFL betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the Saints are favored on the road:

New Orleans Saints -6.5
Carolina Panthers +6.5

Over 50 points -110
Under 50 points -110

Maybe the most important person on the field for the Panthers is going to be Christian McCaffrey, who has put together some Pro Bowl credentials, with 1627 yards from scrimmage. Carolina actually leads the league in rushing yards per attempt (5.4), with some of that on the strength of McCaffrey's 5.2 yards per carry, and some attributed to receivers taking the ball on running plays, in addition, of course, to Newton, who has 473 yards. But they are in the middle of the pack as far as rushing play percentage is concerned. And Newton, who likes utilizing guys on short routes, greatly misses injured tight end Greg Olson, who was one of the NFL's best.

Obviously Drew Brees has had an MVP season. There is a pretty good chance he is going to break his own record for completion percentage, as he has hit on 75.7% of his passes. And he has VERY few negative plays, with just four interceptions and 13 sacks, the latter of which is partially a by-product of his ability to find receivers very quickly. What's remarkable about what Brees has done this season is that he doesn't have an outstanding "bookend" receiver to complement Michael Thomas, who has caught 102 passes. They tried, by signing Dez Bryant, but that evaporated when the former Cowboy tore his Achilles. Alvin Kamara essentially plays the same role McCaffrey does for the Panthers, as he's caught 70 passes, but the difference, of course, is that Kamara runs like a truck.

Truth be told, the real story in this game might be the New Orleans defense, which got hit with a bad rap after being torched by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Ryan during the course of the first three weeks. But since the third game, they have allowed more than 23 points only once, and when you look at them, they actually do several things extremely well. If you were to use the opponent's rushing yards per attempt as a barometer, they are second best in the league, allowing 3.6 yards per carry. They have 41 sacks, and are sixth in the league in sack percentage. And they've surrendered just 62 points in the last five games. So they are dealing from strength.

If the Panthers can't open things up a little, the Saints have a chance to bottle them up. And if Carolina is desperate, it's going to manifest itself in the defensive intensity it shows. We certainly don't expect anything resembling a shootout here. So for us, this adds up to an UNDER for the Monday night NFL game.

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