The New Orleans Saints are already looking to next year as divisional play heats up.

The Black and Gold are desperately trying to rebuild for the future at this point, trading standout wide receiver Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks and offensive lineman Trevor Penning to the Los Angeles Chargers for a handful of draft picks in return. 

Meanwhile, the Saints are still have to trudge through the rest of their NFL schedule, and that continues with a noon game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. 

The Panthers are a hot-and-cold team. After starting the season 1-3, they've since won four of their last five matchups and have some new life. While the struggles are still there for Carolina, there have been some flashes of greatness.

Carolina Panthers Roundtable's Josh Graham shared some insight into the state of the franchise at this point, answering three big questions that linger on the minds of New Orleans fans heading into  Sunday.

Josh: "When Dave Canales was introduced as the Carolina Panthers' head coach last year, he said he was going to be 'obnoxious' and 'obsessive' with his emphasis on running the ball. In his one year with Tampa, he built a successful ground attack with Rachaad White — to complement Baker Mayfield — and he's recreating the same formula in Charlotte this season. While Chuba Hubbard was sidelined with a hamstring injury for two weeks, Rico Dowdle compiled consecutive 200-yard performances from scrimmage. Once Hubbard returned, it took a couple of weeks for Dowdle to wrestle away the bulk of the carries. But once he received them at Green Bay, Dowdle rushed for 130 yards and his first multi-touchdown game. That's a long way to say 'Yes, Rico will continue to be the focal point of this offense.'"

Josh: "This is a good question. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero would likely say consistently applying pressure on the passer. With the return of Derrick Brown, who was lost for all but one game in 2024, the run defense has seen a dramatic bounceback season. When Carolina won three in a row last month, it allowed just 130 rushing yards combined in those games. The pass defense has been stronger, too, after the lucrative investments that were made in Jaycee Horn and Trevon Moehrig in the offseason. In the Panthers' road wins at the Jets and Packers, Horn and Moehrig have three interceptions between them. But the achilles heel has been the pass rush. Other than a six-sack outing against the Jets, the Panthers have just eight quarterback takedowns over eight games. Also, two rookie rushers — Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen — have been thrown into the fire with offseason acquisition Pat Jones being placed on injured reserve with a back injury."

Josh: "There is more optimism within the Panthers' organization right now than there's been in at least three years. The 2022 season was highlighted by Charlottean Steve Wilks taking over Matt Rhule as an interim and nearly steering the Panthers to an NFC South title. But other than that — and a couple fleeting weeks with Cam Newton returning to the team in the second half of the 2021 season — the franchise has been in a dark place since 2018. But the organization is hoping it has turned a corner after upsetting a legit contender in the NFC at Lambeau Field. They certainly have more faith in Canales than they ever did in Rhule or Frank Reich and there's a high approval rating in the building of former Panthers pro bowler Dan Morgan, who has been the team's general manager since last year. Will the good vibes translate into a playoff appearance? Given the seven-season playoff drought, you don't hear many people around the facilities using the 'p word' yet. But if the Panthers win on Sunday and complete a season sweep of Atlanta the following week, that will be a hot topic entering Carolina's Monday Night Football showdown at San Francisco at the end of the month."

With these questions answered, only one remains: can the Saints do enough on Sunday against a Panthers squad that is firing on all cylinders, or will the team fall to 1-9 on the year?