Carolina Panthers Schedule: Five toughest games in 2020
By Luke Tucker
No. 2: Week 7, at New Orleans Saints — 1 p.m. on FOX
Despite the Buccaneers being loaded offensively, they perhaps aren’t even the best team in Carolina’s division. In fact, there may not be a single team in the NFC that is better than the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees is back for another year, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas are each among the best in the league at their positions and Sean Payton is still one of the most talented offensive minds in football. Even the Saints’ defense is expected to be a top-10 unit in 2020.
While playing the Saints twice a year is bad enough in itself, the matchup in New Orleans will be particularly difficult. The Superdome is one of the loudest and toughest places to play in the entire league and being a divisional game will only make the fans in the bayou even rowdier. Carolina has won in New Orleans only one time since 2015 and is just 2-7 against them overall during that span. The Saints are perhaps the best team in the conference from top-to-bottom, so the combination of talent and the environment will undoubtedly make this one of Carolina’s toughest games to win.
It’s also worth noting that Bridgewater has spent the past two seasons down in New Orleans. With that being said, nobody knows his skill-set better than the Saints. As a result, this could make for a more effective gameplan against him. On the flip side though, Bridgewater can provide his own insights into the ins-and-outs of the Saints’ offense. New offensive coordinator Joe Brady has also spent time with New Orleans, as he served as an offensive assistant back in 2018.