Sadly, it’s the end of Saints 2022 football season Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. The team is not be moving on to the playoffs; and neither is their week 18 opponent Carolina.
A lot of folks call this a “meaningless” match-up, but to Saints head coach Dennis Allen and his players, there’s a bit of pride on the line. Victory means a 4th straight win and would be a small bit of brightness heading into the dark, dismal, offseason early after not being in contention for a Super Bowl for a 2nd straight year.
The team has 9 players listed on their final injury report:
Out
Cornerback Paulson Adebo (hamstring)
Guard Andrus Peat (ankle)
Questionable
Tight End Taysom Hill (back)
Safety Justin Evans (shoulder)
Tackle James Hurst (foot)
Tight End Juwan Johnson (quadricep)
Safety Marcus Maye (shoulder)
Tackle Ryan Ramczyk (hip/rest)
Linebacker Ty Summers (oblique)
On the Panthers injury rundown; RB D'Onta Foreman (knee), DE Brian Burns (ankle), DT Matt Ioannidis (back) and LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe are questionable. Both Foreman and Burns are significant Friday surprises after not having any prior limitations this week.
Foreman is the teams leading rusher and missed this season's first meeting against the Saints. He’s accounted for 5 of the team’s 11 rushing TDs. On defense, Burns is their sack leader with 12.5, to go along with 17 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
New Orleans is 14-12 at home all-time versus Carolina. The Panthers won this season’s first meeting 22-14 back in week 3.
GAME TIME for the finale is noon Sunday with Mike Hoss and Deuce McCallister giving you the local call on WWL and the Audacy app. Grab some king cake and coffee to join First Take with Steve Geller and Jeff Nowak at 9am. They hand things off to the Bud Light countdown to kick at 10 am with Bobby Hebert and Mike Detillier.