No one is quite sure how much (if any) Drew Brees and the Saints' other starters will play with the top seed in the NFC already wrapped up, but what is known is that the Panthers will turn to undrafted rookie Kyle Allen with starter Cam Newton and backup Taylor Heinicke banged up. That's enough information for most of the panel's prognosticators to side with the Saints, though there are a couple of exceptions.
A few weeks back, former Panthers offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz was one of just three analysts (out of 38) to pick the Buccaneers to knock off Carolina, and he was right. This week he's one of just two to pick the Panthers (everyone else at SB Nation went with New Orleans). The other person picking the Panthers is Tadd Haislop at Sporting News, who took over the site's one-man picks column just last week.
By the way, the panel needs a Saints victory to finish above .500 for the season. To date, the majority has been right eight times, wrong seven times.
*Picks are tabulated using consensus among media outlet's staff
Sources: NFL.com, ESPN.com, SI.com, SB Nation, Sporting News, USA Today, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports
