6 days ago
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The Panthers blew their chance to win the NFC South on Saturday night, which forces them to become Falcons fans for a day. If Atlanta beats New Orleans on Sunday, the Panthers will become division champs via the round-robin tiebreaker among three 8-9 teams — Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta.
Many will say Carolina's opportunity was impaired by multiple officiating errors. After the 16-14 loss, coach Dave Canales steered clear of criticizing the folks in black and white.
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"I don't really want to get into that because we just didn't play well enough, offensively speaking," Canales told reporters. "We didn't get our run game going. A bad day on third down, which doesn't give us an opportunity to extend the drives and really have a balanced offense the way that we can play. Some missed opportunities out there. So it really just has to be on us and about the execution and all of us making sure we're, you know, in the right plays at the right time."
The weather impacted both teams, too, but it definitely seems as though the officiating created more issues for the road team. In the end, it won't matter if the Falcons, favored by three, can beat the Saints.
The problem for the Falcons (and for the Panthers) is that Atlanta has a 4-1 record at night, and a 3-8 record in afternoon games. On multiple occasions, they've followed a prime-time win with a clunker.
The Panthers will be praying that the Falcons get the engine running smoothly against the Saints. Carolina also will be hoping that the outcome won't be affected by the officials.
Unless, of course, officiating affects the game in a way that helps the Falcons.
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