Even in their bye week, the Carolina Panthers made progress. With the Buccaneers loss to the Saints yesterday, that puts the Panthers and Bucs dead even with each other at 7-6 atop the NFC South division.

The Bucs have not played quite as well, recently, as they did over the course of the first half of the season when they started 6-2. Now, a lot of that has to do with Tampa Bay being a bit banged up since then. 

A prime example of that is the Buccaneers still awaiting the return of Mike Evans. They thought they would be getting him back potentially yesterday against New Orleans, but it didn't work out. Early reports are pointing towards him returning for a Thursday night matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

All of that bodes well for the Carolina Panthers considering they still have yet to even see the Buccaneers this season. The remaining four weeks of the season for Carolina consists of at the Saints, home against the Bucs and Seahawks, then back on the road again for the season finale at Tampa Bay.

Depending on how this last bit of season goes, both of these games against the Bucs, especially the last one in Tampa Bay, are likely to be fun as hell.

Yesterday's Bucs loss against the Saints was so massive for Carolina, not just because it brought them and Tampa Bay even at 7-6, but because the last stretch of the season for the Bucs looked a little bit like a cake walk, including New Orleans yesterday who got a win off of Carolina several weeks ago also.

Other than the two games against Carolina, the Bucs will also face the Falcons, as already mentioned, and Miami on the road.

Carolina has not made the Playoffs since 2017 when they got eliminated by the Saints down in New Orleans in the Wild Card round. The last time the Panthers even had seven wins at this point in the season was 2017.

The Panthers had one previous shot to get in the playoffs via winning the division against Tom Brady's Bucs back in 2022 when Steve Wilks was the interim head coach, but came up short, 30-24.

The point is, so many times the Carolina Panthers have had to get through Tampa Bay in order to get into the playoffs. But, this time around feels a little different for Carolina than it has in a long time with some of the quality wins they've stacked up and the trajectory they seem to be on right now as a franchise.