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The New Orleans Saints finished off their memorable 2019 season with an absolute thrashing of the Carolina Panthers 42-10. Despite entering the game as NFC South champions,a locked playoff spot, and a 12-3 record, the Saints showed no mercy for their divisional opponents. Without further delay here are 3 ups and 1 down from the win.
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Up: Drew Brees
Brees threw dart after dart and the Panthers secondary could not find an answer for him en route to the Panthers destruction. Brees completed 19 of his 30 attempts for 253 yards and 3 touchdowns before being pulled in the 4th quarter. In typical Brees fashion, the legend had no favorites on the field, completing passes to nine different receivers, finding three different receivers in the endzone, including fellow quarterback Taysom Hill.
Drew Brees after he saw he wasn't on the NFL 100 list. Brees went HAM on the Panthers for 3 scores! Here's one to Taysum Hill for the TD. pic.twitter.com/O71f0TVE90
— FantasysPhinest (@FantasysPhinest) December 29, 2019
Missing 5 games due to a hand injury, Brees finishes the regular season with a completion percentage of 74.3%, 2979 yards and a 27-4 TD-INT ratio.
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Up: Alvin Kamara
Entering last week’s game against the Tennessee Titans, Alvin Kamara was almost invisible having only one rushing touchdown all season. In the past two weeks, Kamara has found his stride rushing into the endzone four times in two games. Despite only having eight carries, Kamara averaged 4.9 yards per attempt and scored twice against the Panthers.
Alvin Kamara wouldn’t go down... 15-yard rushing TD... #Saints #Panthers #NFL #NOvsCAR
— Christopher Reiss (@NFL_ChrisReiss) December 29, 2019
pic.twitter.com/2PeSysFu2x
AK41 is returning to his untouchable self just in time for next week’s playoff matchup against the Vikings.
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Up: A.J. Klein
Ex-Panther A.J. Klein had himself a hell of a game against his former team. Down 14-0 the Panthers were looking to get themselves back on track but Klein wasn’t having it, picking off Kyle Allen and returning it to the endzone for a pick-six.
AJ Klein pick six against his former squad! pic.twitter.com/HdL4We3emN
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) December 29, 2019
Klein had five tackles, a QB hit and allowed only 2 catches for a total of 8 yards, to go along with his interception and touchdown.
As the regular season comes to a close Klein finishes third in tackles for the Saints with 69.
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Down: Not the playoff picture they wanted
The Saints did what they had to do after the last second loss to the 49ers, they won out, beating the Colts, Titans and the Panthers to finish the season. . But at the end, it wasn’t enough to get a top 2 seed and a bye in the first week of the playoffs. Thanks to yet another blatant missed pass interference call the Saints got screwed, as a Seahawks win would have secured the Saints a bye for next week’s wild card round.
Still shaking my head at non-Pass Interference call in the last minute of the 49ers-Seahawks game. NFL Office put us through a season of inconsistent reversals but this is what the rule was supposed to fix-missed call that impacted playoff spots of 4 teams. Why have review?? pic.twitter.com/ouKEqYkT8S
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) December 30, 2019
13-3 is a top tier record however, in this year’s NFC, thanks to a tiebreak between the Packers, 49ers, and Saints being decided on fewest NFC losses, the Saints have the third seed in the conference. This means no bye for Who Dat Nation. On the bright side, it’s an opportunity for Sean Payton and the Saints to get sweet revenge against the Vikings in next week’s wild card round.