Imagine that. Cam Newton kept the homemaker start-up kit that was sent to him in mockery by the defensive leader of a division rival that's terrorized him countless times throughout his career. Literally forced himself to take a daily look at a reminder of his team's second-rate standing in the NFC South for nearly the entirety of the last year. Let Cam Jordan and the Saints take up literal real estate in his locker, never mind figurative real estate in his brain, and still couldn't keep it together long enough to be competing for the divisional crown by the time he had an opportunity to seek revenge. That's just...well...sad, really. Never mind the Saints having the juice, or the Panthers sitting sadly at the table with an empty cup hoping they get offered some out of pity. The game itself should have more juice than it does, if not for Carolina spilling it all over the floor and finding new and creative ways to keep slipping in it like they were in a Three Stooges skit for the past month. Of course, there's still plenty on the line with New Orleans playing for the SuperDome's right to host the remainder of their games prior to a potential Super Bowl and Carolina trying to breath a little life into a long overdue playoff push. Still, I can promise you the NFL wasn't planning on a banner being raised prior to the first Saints/Panthers game when they drew up the schedule. Kind of takes the piss and vinegar out of returning the favor if the Panthers do somehow manage to pull the upset.
And look, I'm all for a little smack talk ahead of two rivalry games in three weeks, but it's probably best to steer clear of the historical angle here. The Saints might have been longer-suffering, but they didn't watch their franchise quarterback taint the biggest moment in team history by looking at his own fumble like it was an alternative life form while the Super Bowl hung in the balance. A little self awareness goes a long way, though - judging by how many times the sender has sacked the sendee over the years - it's not all that surprising Cam Newton doesn't have it. What he does have, however, is the tools to drink away his sorrows while getting a head start on Spring cleaning if his mediocre team brings anywhere close to the same effort in the next three games that they've brought the previous five...
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