Exactly one week ago, almost to the hour, the Carolina Panthers traded star running back Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers. The sudden and shocking move was, as much as they won’t admit it, a white flag of sorts—because why trade your best player if you’re trying to compete?
Well, uh, the Panthers are suddenly competing.
On Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost their third straight game—dropping to a 3-5 record following a 27-22 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Now that defeat, with the Panthers sitting at 2-5 and gearing up to play the 3-4 Atlanta Falcons, has given Carolina a clear path to the top of the NFC South.
A win from interim head coach Steve Wilks and his team would, obviously, pull themselves and the Falcons to a 3-5 mark. And being that the Panthers would also stand at 3-0 in the division—with wins over the 2-5 New Orleans Saints, Buccaneers and Falcons—they’d, by that tiebreaker, technically lay claim to first place.
The NSFW South is back, baby!
