CHARLOTTE DJ Moore Jersey Boys , N.C. (AP) — m he was “gifted” by the Saints hanging in his locker, some omnipresent motivation after what happened a year ago when the Panthers met up with their NFC South rivals.New Orleans swept Carolina, winning both regular-season games in 2017 before eliminating the Panthers from the first round of the playoffs in January with a 31-26 win at the Superdome.The rematch is never far from Newton’s mind.“If you need any type of boost, kind of chip on your shoulder versus (these guys) I have a constant reminder each and every day when I look in my locker,” Newton said, who will renew acquaintances Monday night with the Saints, a team he said “doesn’t like.”Newton said the broom came from the Saints, although he wouldn’t disclose which player.Newton also received a bottle of “Jordan” red wine this past offseason from nemesis Cam Jordan, the Saints dominant defensive end. Jordan had promised to send Newton some “juice” if the Saints swept the Panthers.“Disrespectful,” Newton said flatly.The broom remains in its plastic wrapper and Newton said he would like to stamp it “return to sender” if Carolina (6-7) can somehow manage to beat New Orleans twice in the next three weeks and sneak into the playoffs as a wild-card team. The Panthers currently trail the Vikings by a half-game in the battle for the second wild card spot, but are given only a 9 percent chance of making the postseason.Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said: “I know about the wine, not the broom — but whoever sent the broom is a comedic genius.”Meanwhile, the Saints (11-2) have already locked up their second straight division title and are aiming for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The Rams are also 11-2, so there’s no room for error.“They got the juice, but at the end of the day we are coming Monday with a cup for our own, too,” Newton said.“Listen, they’re a prideful group,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “They’re well-coached and their backs are against the wall, so we’re going to get their best performance.”STIFLING STREAKThe Saints’ defense has been among the NFL’s best the past five games after looking like arguably the worst through the first three weeks of the season.A 48-40 opening-week loss to the Buccaneers and 43-37 overtime win vs. the Falcons had New Orleans ranked last in points allowed per game through the season’s first few weeks. Now, the Saints are on a five-game run of allowing 17 or fewer points, the latest being a 28-14 victory at Tampa Bay last Sunday.Linebacker Demario Davis said the transformation stems from players staying focused on their goals Cheap DJ Moore Jersey , learning from mistakes and trusting the coaching staff.“You want to throughout the season perfect your process and, at this point, your process should be pretty much perfected,” Davis said.JORDAN STEPPING UPJordan has been a big part of the Saints turnaround with 12 sacks.“He’s exceeded my expectations,” Davis said of Jordan. “I knew he was one of the top pass rushers in the league, but to see firsthand the impact he has on games it’s phenomenal.”STOPPING McCAFFREYThe Saints will surely be keying on Christian McCaffrey, who has become Carolina’s all-purpose running back in the same mold that Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner once used Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.McCaffrey rarely leaves the field for Carolina, and with 926 yards rushing and 701 yards receiving, he has a legitimate shot to join Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk as the only players in league history with 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season.He has also scored 12 touchdowns in the past seven games.NO SMALL BREEZEBrees has averaged 302.4 yards passing with 13 TDs and four INTs in past seven games vs. Carolina.Panthers coach Ron Rivera said the key will be to get pressure on Brees up the middle, similar to what the Cowboys were able to do against the Saints a couple of weeks ago, and to not fall for his pump fakes.“We have to stay discipline,” Rivera said.INGRAM’S MARKRunning back Mark Ingram can make his mark on the Saints’ franchise record books with one more touchdown run. He has 49 for his career, tying him with Deuce McAllister.McAllister is still around team headquarters often. He is a color commentator on radio broadcasts of Saints games. Ingram has referred to McAllister as a mentor and Saints second-year running back Alvin Kamara said it’s apparent that McAllister wants Ingram to break his record, which has stood for a decade.“When the team has success, individual accolades will follow,” Kamara said. “So that’s just a testament to him, not focusing on him, but focusing on the team and what helps the team get better and be successful.” Graham Gano is one of the most polarizing players on the team, which is extremely rare for a kicker, but then again, you’re only as good as your last made great kick." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteCat Scratch Readera Carolina Panthers communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsSectionsAboutPanthersOddsShopStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Keep Sounding PodcastPanthers 2019 NFL DraftCSR Film RoomGraham Gano is an average kicker at a high priceNew Custom DJ Moore Jersey ,18commentsGraham Gano is one of the most polarizing players on the team, which is extremely rare for a kicker, but then again, you’re only as good as your last made great kick.ESTShareTweetShareShareGraham Gano is an average kicker at a high priceBob Donnan-USA TODAY SportsThe kicker position is historically one of those spots where you’re consistently evaluated on your most recent kick, whether that be a game winner, or one that didn’t help the team’s cause. We saw a little bit of both from Graham Gano this season. At one point, he nailed an extremely improbable 63-yard field goal to steal an early season victory against the New York Giants in what might have been his best career highlight.But then you flip the coin over and you see three missed extra points, one of which was the difference between winning, or at least tying, a game against the Detroit Lions. That was the game where Ron Rivera elected to go for a game sealing two point conversion instead of kicking the extra point to send it to overtime — in my book, that was a bad decision even with a kicker having a bad day. But, there’s no decision to be made at all if you’re already 20-20, or 22-20, or 23-20 because your kicker didn’t miss an extra point, and a field goal, earlier in the game. He also missed a field goal that would have likely won the game over the Seattle Seahawks, but that was a 52-yard try, not something I’m going to begrudge a kicker.All said and done, prior to an injury that ended his season early in week 13, Gano attempted only 16 field goals in total, missing two of them, giving him an 88% average on a fairly small sample size. That puts him squarely in the middle of the pack league-wide amongst kickers with at least 10 attempts. However DJ Moore Jersey Discount , his 91% extra point percentage is bottom five in the entire league.That’s a below average season, especially following 2017 where he also just missed one field goal, but kicked 29 of them... enough for him to get a significant contract from the team. One that many Panthers fans, myself included, will always begrudge general manager Marty Hurney for handing out. It’s a topic we have already discussed at length, so I won’t dive super deep into it, but even a blind and deaf mule pulling a cart with a busted axle through Times Square would have been aware enough to see that Harrison Butker had a good enough preseason in 2017 to cut bait with Graham Gano and his large salary cap hit.To just make that spot even sorer, Harrison Butker had a much better season than Gano this past year. While he was comparable on his field goal percentage at 89%, he was miles better kicking extra points, converting 94% of his 69 (!) (Nice) attempts. That’s about the league average, and he does it in a much harder weather environment on the average than Gano does. But what really gets everyone fired up, is that he did this for a whopping $555,000 cap hit. Had we retained him on his rookie deal, our cap hit would have been the same as theirs, and we’d have him for another two years at a crazy low rate. Gano’s cap hit in 2018 was $3.4 million. It was, and still is, just a hilariously bad business decision by the team and reflects the fears many had about bringing back Hurney in the first place. Even if you think his 2017 preseason was a false flag, you should have still taken that risk the moment you look at your cap chart and assess the situation.So, to wit, he we are with a perfectly fine kicker but at a price that shouldn’t be as high as it is. It’s the real world equivalent of paying $5 or more inside the stadium for a bottle of water that a guy standing outside sells for a buck. It’s the NFL equivalent of being low on your daily nutrient counts, and knowing you could’ve had a V8. We’ll always and forever compare what could have been to what is. The best we can do is hope that 2019 will be more like 2017 for Gano than 2018 was.