Carolina Panthers

Panthers lose, Saints now tied for first place of NFC South

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The NFL regular season has kicked off, and the defending Superbowl champs got the win. Again.

The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers kicked off the 2016 NFL season this Thursday, in what was a rematch of Superbowl 50.

The Broncos started second-year QB Trevor Siemian against a Luke Kuechly led defense, which sounded like a crazy idea, but the young QB proved to be worthy. Despite two interceptions and a fumble, his team got the win. Siemian went 18-for-26 with 176 yards and one touchdown with two picks.

Cam Newton and the Panthers looked pretty good early on, with Kelvin Benjamin returning to action and reminding us all of just how good he really is. Newton finished the night completing 18-for-33 passes with one touchdown and a pick.

Despite being the defending Superbowl champs and playing at home, not many people gave the Broncos a chance, because of their QB situation. This strikes me kind of odd because last year when they won it all, their QB play was horrendous, so I don’t understand why people thought it could possibly be any worse than last year.

The Broncos have nine starting defenders from their championship year, so the Broncos winning this game wasn’t really a surprise — to me at least.

With the Panthers losing, they fall to 0-1 and fall to the bottom of the division, granted, no other team has played yet, it’s still pretty great as a Saints fan to write about this right now.

The Saints have their hands full if they want to come out on top this Sunday. They are tasked with stopping the young and talented Oakland Raiders team, led by Derek Carr. If they find a way to come out with a win, they will be tied with the winner of the Atlanta-Tampa game for the number one spot in the NFC South.

Here are the current NFC South standings after tonight’s game:

T1 – Saints

T1 – Buccaneers

T1 – Falcons

4 – Panthers