(My Sportsbook) - Last Sunday, the Carolina Panthers were moments away from wrapping up the top seed and homefield advantage in the NFC portion of the playoffs. A week later, the Panthers are a poor performance in New Orleans away from being a road-bound No. 5 seed that is forced to play on Wild Card weekend.

John Fox's team was in control for much of last Sunday night's contest at the Giants, building a 21-10 second-quarter lead and boasting a 28-20 advantage as the fourth-quarter clock ticked beneath four minutes.

But Eli Manning led the defending Super Bowl champs on a seven-play, 44-yard drive culminating in a one-yard touchdown run for Brandon Jacobs, and Manning's two-point conversion pass to Domenik Hixon tied the score at 28-28.

The game was sent to overtime when Carolina kicker John Kasay's 50-yard field goal try drifted just left, and the Giants took the second drive of the extra session 87 yards toward Jacobs' game-winning two-yard touchdown run.

The heartbreaking 34-28 loss not only stripped the Panthers of an opportunity to seal the NFC South title and claim homefield in the NFC, but also put Carolina in danger of surrendering the division crown altogether.

The team's closest pursuer, the Atlanta Falcons, clinched a playoff berth with a 24-17 win in Minnesota on Sunday, and the Panthers loss narrowed the gap in the division to just one game.

With a win over the hapless Rams on Sunday, coupled with a Carolina loss at New Orleans, Atlanta would take the NFC South based on a superior conference record, and would also be awarded the No. 2 playoff seed in the NFC and the first-round playoff bye that comes with it.

That would leave the Panthers on the top Wild Card line and send them to NFC West champion Arizona in the opening playoff round, a fate Fox and company will be working hard to avoid at the Superdome.

The Saints, meanwhile, will be more than content to play the role of spoiler against their division rival.

New Orleans already knew the playoffs were not a possibility heading into Week 16, but still routed the winless Lions, 42-7, in order to maintain a shot at a winning season one year after a 7-9 campaign.

In addition to the possibility of finishing better than .500 for just the ninth time in the 42-year history of the organization, the Saints have an opportunity to put one of their own in the record books.

Quarterback Drew Brees comes into Sunday having thrown for 4,683 yards on the year, which leaves him 401 yards shy of Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084 yards, set in 1984.

Also, with a win the Saints can make the NFC South the first division since the new divisional format came into play in 2002 in which all four teams finished with a winning record.

Washington (8-7), which travels to San Francisco in Week 17, has a chance to help the NFC East pull off a similar feat.

The last division that boasted four winning teams in a single year was the 2000 NFC Central.

SERIES HISTORY

Carolina leads its all-time series with New Orleans, 15-12, including a 30-7 home victory when the teams met in Week 7. The Panthers have now won five of the last six over the Saints, with the only defeat during that stretch a 31-6 triumph by New Orleans in Charlotte in Week 12 of last season. The Panthers were 16-13 winners in their trip to the Superdome in Week 5 of last season, and have won six straight road games in the series since last losing in New Orleans in 2001.

Fox has a 9-4 record against the Saints in his career, including 6-0 in road games. New Orleans' Sean Payton is 1-4 against both Fox and the Panthers as a head coach.

WHEN THE PANTHERS HAVE THE BALL

The Saints shouldn't be too surprised when the Panthers come out running the football on Sunday. Carolina enters Week 17 ranked fourth in NFL rushing offense (146.9 yards per game), and its ground game has proven extremely difficult to defend for even the strongest defenses in recent weeks. Just days after learning he was a Pro Bowl snub, DeAngelo Williams (1337 rushing yards, 22 receptions, 20 TD) carried 24 times for 108 yards and four touchdowns in the loss to the Giants, while rookie Jonathan Stewart (780 rushing yards, 9 TD) added value with 57 yards on 11 total touches of his own. Williams has been on an absolute tear of late, scoring a total of 16 touchdowns over his last eight games, and has gone over 100 yards six times during that span. That said, the former first-rounder was held to 66 yards on 18 carries by the Saints back on Oct. 19th. The Carolina passing game has been overshadowed by the ground assault in recent weeks, but quarterback Jake Delhomme (3038 passing yards, 14 TD, 12 INT) and top targets Steve Smith (73 receptions, 6 TD) and Muhsin Muhammad (58 receptions, 4 TD) have all had their moments. Muhammad was high-man with four catches for 80 yards at the Giants last week. A increasingly strong Carolina o-line has allowed just 19 sacks on the year, including zero against the much-ballyhooed New York pass rush last Sunday.

The front seven that the Panthers running game will be attacking ranks a middle-of-the-road 16th in NFL rushing defense (110.1 yards per game), and last week allowed Lions rookie rusher Kevin Smith to amass 111 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. The run-stopping effort for the Saints begins with rookie Sedrick Ellis (28 tackles, 4 sacks) and fellow tackle Hollis Thomas (4 tackles) up front, with linebackers Jonathan Vilma (119 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) and Scott Fujita (75 tackles, 2 INT) attempting to make plays behind them. Vilma had eight tackles in last week's win over the Lions. A New Orleans pass defense that has not made a ton of plays in either the secondary (15 interceptions) or pass rush (27 sacks) did get picks from cornerbacks Jason David (20 tackles, 5 INT) and Usama Young (48 tackles, 2 INT) in last Sunday's victory. End Bobby McCray (27 tackles) continues to lead New Orleans in sacks with six, but has been shut out of that category for each of the past three weeks.

WHEN THE SAINTS HAVE THE BALL

The magic number for Brees (30 TD, 16 INT) this week will be 402, and while that high number of passing yards figures to be difficult to attain, the 317 he needs to become just the second 5,000-yard passer in NFL history looks much more manageable. Brees, who has nine 300-yard games to his credit this year, tossed for just 231 and didn't throw a touchdown pass in his last matchup against the Panthers. Four players - wideouts Marques Colston (40 receptions, 4 TD), Lance Moore (71 receptions, 8 TD), and Devery Henderson (30 receptions, 3 TD) along with tight end Jeremy Shockey (50 receptions) - figure to do a preponderance of the pass-catching on Sunday. Colston had game-highs with nine catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns in last week's romp over Detroit, while Henderson, who is averaging a whopping 25.5 yards per catch - made his two grabs count for 96 yards in the contest. Running backs Pierre Thomas (625 rushing yards, 31 receptions, 12 TD), Deuce McAllister (378 rushing yards, 13 receptions, 6 TD), and Mike Bell (32 rushing yards, 1 TD) all had rushing touchdowns in Detroit last week, and Thomas is likely to be the team's top backfield option on Sunday. A strong pass-blocking line has allowed Brees to be sacked just 11 times in a little over 600 drop-backs for the Pro Bowler.

Though Brees will be gunning for a passing record on Sunday, the Saints' best mode of travel if they wish to secure the victory could be on the ground. The Panthers come off a week in which the Giants ran wild on them to the tune of 301 yards and three touchdowns, including 215 from backup rusher Derrick Ward and a trio of scores for Jacobs. The performance dropped Carolina to 22nd in the league against the run (124.1 yards per game). Linebackers Jon Beason (136 tackles, 3 INT) and Thomas Davis (107 tackles, 3.5 sacks) combined for 25 tackles in the loss, but the team did not get enough push at the point of attack from an interior line group featuring Damione Lewis (43 tackles, 3.5 sacks) and Darwin Walker (8 tackles). Walker was subbing in the starting lineup for the injured Maake Kemoeatu (36 tackles), who is listed as questionable for Sunday with a lingering ankle problem. When Brees drops back to throw it, ends Julius Peppers (48 tackles, 13.5 sacks) and Tyler Brayton (37 tackles, 4.5 sacks) will be among those trying to make life difficult for him. Each had a sack of Eli Manning last Sunday. On the back end, Chris Gamble (88 tackles, 3 INT) and Ken Lucas (53 tackles, 2 INT) will have to prevent the big play from the New Orleans receivers, with safeties Chris Harris (66 tackles) and Charles Godfrey (58 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) lending support. Carolina is 11th in the league against the pass (201.3 yards per game) as Week 17 commences.

FANTASY FOCUS

Those who are playing in fantasy championships this week will be relieved to know that Panthers such as Smith, Williams, and Stewart will all be in the lineup in a game that Carolina must have. Don't hesitate to start any of those players, and consider using Delhomme as well against a soft New Orleans secondary. The Panthers defense is not a good play this week, especially with Brees gunning for a record, though kicker John Kasay deserves a spot in all lineups.

Brees is never a question mark for fantasy purposes, and his top targets Moore, Colston, Shockey, and Henderson all warrant consideration on a week in which the Pro Bowler should be putting it in the air quite a bit. Owners of Thomas were disappointed last week when Bell and McAllister vultured some of his touches, but he's still worth considering since he'll carry the bulk of the rushing load and figures to catch some balls as well. Stay away from the Saints defense, but consider using unheralded-but-accurate kicker Garrett Hartley.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

The Saints have been indisputably tough at the Superdome this year, going 6-1 there and beating three potential playoff teams in their own building (Falcons, Chargers, Buccaneers). But Carolina, which has owned the series in New Orleans, figures not to be intimidated by the venue and is likely to play with greater focus than the Saints in a game it needs. The Panthers dominated the front end of this home-and-home by limiting Brees' ability to make big plays and doing pretty much whatever they wanted offensively. That formula will hold this time around as well, as Carolina's mastery of the Saints continues in a key win for the visitors.

My Sportsbook Predicted Outcome: Panthers 26, Saints 20