Best Football Talk

The Carolina Panthers nearly had a monumental collapse Sunday at the hands of the New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees. After leading 30-10 and the game in hand, the Panthers let the Saints come back playing soft defense, terrible punting, and a missed field goal by John Kasay. But Kasay would get the last laugh on the Saints. Jake Delhomme hooked up withsuperstar receiver Steve Smith on an uncatchable pass, then Kasay ended it with a 42-yard field goal with 1 second left.

"By God's grace, this one went in," Kasay said. This came a week after his 50-yard miss near the end of the game cost Carolina the NFC's top seed in an overtime loss to the New York Giants. One week your the goat and next week you are the hero. If Carolina lost, they would have lost the NFC South Title and had to play on the road as a wild card. Instead, they now get a first round bye and a home game. The Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan are now are that wild card team.

After Brees nine yard touchdown pass to Lance Moore on 4th-and -a few pulled the Saints to 30-24 with 5:33 left,  New Orleans quickly forced the Panthers to punt. Brees needed over 60 yards to break Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a season. However, Panther punter Jason Baker unlikely muffed a punt for 21 yards to the Carolina 45. Brees completed three straight passes to give the Saints the lead at 31-30, but would not get another chance until his pass fell short on the final play. He missed the record by 16 yards. They left Carolina too much time on the clock to comeback. That's when Kasay worked his magic.

DeAngelo Williams continued to be arguably the best back in the NFC South, along with Michael Turner. He finished with 25 carries for 178 yards rushing. He passed Steven Davis for most rushing yards in a season for the Panthers. If Brees does not get MVP this NFL season, it will be a tragedy.