The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers will meet in Monday Night Football matchup for Week 15, a game that carries serious playoff implications. For the Saints, it’s another opportunity to build toward a potential first-round bye, while the Panthers, at 6-7 on the season, desperately need to win to remain competitive in the wild card race. The game is set for 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming via WatchESPN).
Saints vs. Panthers 2018 live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch online
The Saints have clinched a playoff spot, but there is still the division and playoff seeding to worry about down the stretch. The Panthers have yet to be eliminated from contention.
Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Carolina has lost five consecutive games, and even if they win out, they need some help to have a shot at making the playoffs. But there’s still a shot, and that’s what they’ll be playing for on Monday when they host the Saints.
New Orleans could have secured a first-round bye in Week 15, but they needed a win over the Panthers as well as a Bears loss or tie to the Packers on Sunday. Instead, Chicago won that game so New Orleans’ hope of a bye (for this week, at least) were put on hold.
Below is all you need to know to watch on Sunday.
Time, TV, and streaming info
Saints vs. Panthers news
- New Orleans is fairly healthy heading into Monday’s game, with only offensive tackle Terron Armstead ruled out on the final injury report.
- For Carolina, they’ll be missing Graham Gano, while Kawann Short is listed as questionable on the final injury report.
- The Saints are still on the right path when it comes to home-field advantage in the playoffs.
- One issue for New Orleans has been the fact that they’ve relied heavily on later-down conversions — the play-calling on first- and second-down hasn’t been up to par in recent weeks.
- That said, if the Saints get into plenty of third-down situations, they should be comforted by the fact that the Panthers are pretty awful at defending third-and-long plays.
- Over at Canal Street Chronicles, they have plenty of preview content: bold predictions, matchups between the Saints offense and Panthers defense, and a Q&A with the folks at Cat Scratch Reader.
- The Panthers cannot be eliminated from playoff contention on Monday, but a loss sure would make it seem like an inevitability.
- The folks at Cat Scratch Reader took a look at the Panthers’ defense and how it matches up against the Saints, and that is also the focus of another piece here. They also ran a Q&A with the folks at Canal Street Chronicles. Offensively, the Panthers will need to be able to run the ball on the Saints.
Saints vs. Panthers prediction
In the SB Nation Week 15 expert NFL picks, all seven picking think the Saints will win it. They’re joined by the OddsShark computer, while the coin flip landed on the Panthers.
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