by Sterling Xie
This exact matchup made an appearance in Any Given Sunday last December, when the Falcons stunned the 14-0 Panthers in the Georgia Dome to hand Carolina its only regular-season loss. This time, though, Atlanta earned far more than a moral victory to end a disappointing second half of the season, while a Carolina team which looked far from perfect headed in appears even more flawed coming out.
The Falcons victory had significant implications for not only our perception of the NFC hierarchy, but also the playoff race. Headed into the week, ESPN's Football Power Index pegged this as the game with the highest playoff leverage of any contest on the Week 4 slate.