Carolina Panthers defeat New Orleans Saints

The Carolina Panthers showed one last surge of life today to defeat the New Orleans Saints by a score of 31-21. The Panthers finished the season with a .500 record, 8-8 and got the final win they needed to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, since the New York Giants defeated the Washington Redskins last night, it will be the Giants representing the NFC Wildcard in the playoffs as opposed to the Panthers. Panthers Tickets will be available shortly for the 2007 season through Stubhub.com.

The tragic thing about this game was that the Panthers went into it knowing the outcome was meaningless. Their fate already determined, you have to hand it to the Panthers who went out there and played their hearts out in a convincing win against the playoff-bound Saints. The Panthers did finish the season with a 5-1 record against other NFC South teams and swept the Saints this season. Jake Delhomme threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns but it was too little, too late for the Panthers. The Saints, having already clinched the Number 2 seed, played their bench players for much of the game rather than risk injury. Now that it is all said and done, the Panthers will likely start looking for answers to the questions they should have been asking back in April.