The Panthers schedule gives them an edge in the NFC South

The NFL made much ado about releasing the scheduling of games that we already knew about earlier this week, and we’re going to look at that schedule from every possible angle. The Carolina Panthers got a very friendly schedule from the league office, and should the team be competitive, it gives them an advantage over their NFC South brethren.

The Panthers get a tough divisional game out of the way right out of the gate. They visit the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, which is notoriously full of tomfoolery and wonky results. A Saints team that is widely considered to have one of the weakest coaching staffs in the league will have to face a Panthers team that won’t have any tape out there. It’s a prime opportunity for the Panthers to start 1-0 in the division with a road win under their belts.

Should the Panthers stay competitive through the end of the season, they’ll have a chance to make up divisional ground at the back end of the schedule. Both the Falcons and Saints play five of their six divisional games in the first ten weeks of the season. The Panthers have two games with the Buccaneers and a visit to the Falcons between Weeks 13 and 18. If the Panthers are actually good or the division is as woeful as it was last year, those three games could swing the division to or away from the Panthers.

Wins in those divisional games are all the more important for the Panthers when you consider the relative ease of the NFC South’s schedules, especially in the home stretch of the season. The entire division has either Week 11 or Week 12 byes, which most teams would consider ideal. The Falcons close their non-division slate with a couple of rookie quarterbacks, Daniel Jones, and Aidan O’Connell. The Saints have that same Giants, Commanders, Raiders triumvirate of opponents late in the season, though they have a tough Packers team intertwined in there. The Buccaneers’ schedule is the toughest of the bunch, so the Panthers can push them out late in the season.

The Panthers have an uphill climb from the league’s worst team, but they at least got some favors from the schedule makers. Their own schedule is about as cushy as a schedule can be within the NFL’s scheduling constraints. That’s further boosted by the opportunity to make up substantial ground in the division late in the season after getting a tough divisional game out of the way in the easiest week to pull off an upset.