The Carolina Panthers open their season series against the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday with both teams heading in different directions. The Panthers, of course, remain undefeated, have already clinched the division title and seem to be inevitably costing toward at least a bye week and likely home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
The Falcons, meanwhile, have lost six of their last seven games, are on the outside looking in on the playoff picture and are in serious trouble.
It wasn’t always this way, of course. Through Week 5, both teams were undefeated. It looked, at the time, that the two games in three weeks between the clubs in the second half of the season would determine the eventual division winner.