Game: Carolina Panthers (11-5) at New Orleans (11-5), 4:40 p.m.
TV: Fox (Joe Buck play-by-play, Troy Aikman color analyst, Erin Andrews and Chris Meyers sideline reporters)
RADIO: WBT-AM 1110 in Charlotte is flagship station (Mick Mixon play-by-play, Eugene Robinson and Jim Szoke color analysts, Mike Craft sideline reporter)
LAST WEEK: Carolina - Lost at Atlanta 22-10, New Orleans - Lost at Tampa Bay 31-24
NEXT WEEK: The winner advances to the divisional round of the playoffs next week.
THE SERIES: Carolina leads the all-time series 24-22 and this 47th meeting means its the most-played rivalry in the 23-year history of the Panthers franchise. Carolina is 12-11 in both home and road meetings entering the first-ever playoff game between NFC South division rivals. New Orleans has won two straight home games in the series and has won six of the last nine home games after snapping the Panthers' seven-game win streak in New Orleans from 2002 through 2008 that included a 2005 game played at LSU's Tiger Stadium after Hurricane Katrina damaged the Saints' Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
RANKINGS AMONG NFL (thru 2017 regular season): Carolina offense - 19th overall, 4th rushing, 28th passing. Carolina defense - 7th overall, 3rd rushing, 18th passing. New Orleans offense - 2nd overall, 5th rushing, 5th passing. New Orleans defense - 17th overall, 16th rushing, 15th passing.
BY THE NUMBERS: 9-4 - The Panthers' playoff record when wearing the white jerseys they are slated to wear in Sunday's game. Carolina is 0-3 when wearing black jerseys for the franchise's all time 9-7 postseason record.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Drew Brees vs. Panthers defense - Drew Brees is making his 24th career start against the Panthers. He'll enter with a 12-11 record, a 67.4 percent completion percentage, 96.3 quarterback rating and 6,694 yards passing against Carolina. He also has one 400-yard passing game and five games with four or more touchdown passes against the Panthers.
NOTABLE: If experience counts for anything, the Panthers are in good shape. In fact, they have the most experience of NFC playoff teams with 189 games among 35 players. Atlanta is second (174 games, 36 players), followed by New Orleans (91 games, 20 players), Philadelphia (74 games, 24 players), Minnesota (69 games, 28 players) and the Los Angeles Rams (21 games, six players). AFC teams New England (317 games, 41 players) and Pittsburgh (207 games, 40 players) enter the playoffs with the most postseason experience....
There have been several notable previous Panthers games in New Orleans, among them 1995's 34-26 Saints win in Carolina's first-ever nationally-televised contest (old ESPN Sunday Night Football), 1999's 19-10 Saints win in George Seifert's first game as Panthers head coach, 2004's 32-21 Panthers win on John Kasay's franchise-record six field goals, 2012's 44-38 Panthers win behind DeAngelo Williams' franchise-record 210 yards rushing and 2014's 41-10 Panthers win that started a season-ending four-game winning streak that netted Carolina the NFC South division title....
Cam Newton will be playing in his seventh playoff game and enters the postseason with a 3-3 record while averaging 245.3 yards per game while completing 59.8 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 83.9 quarterback rating....
With 17 games of playoff experience, defensive end Julius Peppers is the Panthers' most experienced player in the postseason. He has 54 tackles with 6 1-2 quarterback sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles and five pass deflections in those games....
The Panthers are the only franchise in NFL history to advance to the divisional round each in their playoff appearances. Carolina had byes into the divisional round in 1996, 2008, 2013 and 2015 and they've won wild card games in 2003, 2005 and 2014 to advance into the divisional round....
Sunday's playoff game features two of the top five rookies in all-purpose yards this season. New Orleans' Alvin Kamara is first with 1,901 all-purpose yards while Christian McCaffrey is fifth with 1,306....
A key to success for Carolina has been controlling time of possession. At an average of 32:17 per game, the Panthers are fourth in the NFL and trail only Philadelphia (32:41), Minnesota (32:26) and Jacksonville (32:19). Carolina also has a NFL-leading 19 drives of six or more minutes this season.
Gastonia's Scottie Patton (1986 Ashbrook High graduate) is in his 18th season as New Orleans Saints trainer. Patton previously worked as a trainer as his high school alma mater, Appalachian State (1986-90), South Carolina (1990-91) and for the San Francisco 49ers (1991-95) and Philadelphia Eagles (1996-99).
PREDICTION: New Orleans 31, Carolina 28 - Adding Greg Olsen should help the Panthers offense but clearly he and Cam Newton weren't on the same page in last week's loss at Atlanta. Even if Newton and Olsen find ways to connect, does Carolina have enough to outlast Drew Brees and the Saints?
(Gazette's 2017 seasonal record: 10-6)