Week 17 can bring about some wild results. Some teams outside the playoffs play like they have nothing to lose while some are already thinking about vacation. Some teams in the playoffs want to either improve their seed or keep up their momentum while others just want to keep their starters healthy.
Every team has their own strategy in the final week and that leads to something like this. Not unlike last night’s dismantling of Oklahoma by LSU (must be a Louisiana thing), the New Orleans Saints just completely blew out the Carolina Panthers 35-3 and that’s just the first half.
Early on was “The Alvin Kamara Show” as he dominated the first quarter by scoring a couple touchdowns.
.@A_Kamara6 finds the end zone from 15 yards out! #Saints
📺: #NOvsCAR on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/HYJhHN7b2Y pic.twitter.com/c7Mc1LNRfB— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2019
.@A_Kamara6 with four TDs in the last two weeks! #Saints
📺: #NOvsCAR on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/HYJhHN7b2Y pic.twitter.com/KZvrM5A5GU— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2019
And then things went from bad to worse as A.J. Klein intercepted Kyle Allen and went 14 yards for the score.
.@AJKlein47 takes it to the house against his former team! #Saints
📺: #NOvsCAR on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/HYJhHN7b2Y pic.twitter.com/qPnwhbM0st— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2019
Then because everyone else dressed in gold and white was scoring, Drew Brees had to get in on the fun and threw two TD passes to Tre’Quan Smith and Jared Cook with Cook scoring on an amazing one-handed grab.
Postseason mode 🎮@TreQuanSmithUCF x @drewbrees pic.twitter.com/A9063ILJZ7
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 29, 2019
.@JaredCook89 with one hand! The @Saints lead 35-0 in the first half. #Saints
📺: #NOvsCAR on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/HYJhHN7b2Y pic.twitter.com/7j6Y1xl21a— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2019
The Panthers scored a late half field goal to ruin the shutout but they are sinking against the Saints. Looking at the stats, it’s absurd. The Saints had 20 first downs while the Panthers had 29 total plays on offense. The Panthers were held to less than 100 total yards and much of that was accrued on the final drive of the half.
The only person with the Panthers who really did anything impressive was this guy playing the drums upside down.
Don't act like you're not impressed 😳 pic.twitter.com/Q0WQIBPoVf
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 29, 2019
There’s still a half to go but the Panthers seem to already be thinking of vacation and the Saints may be benching their starters sooner rather than later in their preparation for the playoffs.
