As mentioned in this afternoon’s Week 15 playoff rooting guide, the first step for the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South is for the Atlanta Falcons to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was considered a long shot as the Bucs are finally getting healthy on offense and the Falcons were eliminated from playoff contention just last week. Lo and behold, our dear neighbors played a solid game for us, with our old friend Zane Gonzalez nailing a shot in the final second to beat Tampa 29-28. With this performance, the Carolina Panthers now have sole possession of first place in the NFC South for Week 15 with a 7-6 record. Ten years have passed since this fact.
The Panthers must beat the New Orleans Saints on Sunday to retain this spot, but that’s a question for tomorrow. Tonight, we can marvel at how vulnerable the Buccaneers are against a Falcons team that has won just four games in this contest. Atlanta committed a franchise-record 19 penalties for 125 yards, mostly on offense, but ultimately won.
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We’ll talk more about the division and what this win means for the Panthers if they beat the Saints on Sunday. For now, enjoy this graphic from NFL.com showing Carolina as the No. 4 seed in the NFC today.
Also, like disrespect. The Panthers are first in the division, but still have a lower chance of making the playoffs (47 percent) than the Buccaneers (53 percent) who just dropped to second place. sure.
