The Falcons won their final game of the regular season and the Panthers did not, but the Panthers will be going to the playoffs as the NFC South champions.
Kirk Cousins threw a touchdown pass to Drake London in the first quarter and Zane Gonzalez made four field goals to propel the Falcons to a 19-17 home win over the Saints. That pushed them to 8-9 on the season and put them in a three-way tie with the Panthers and the Buccaneers at the top of the division.
The Panthers lost to the Bucs on Saturday, but prevailed in the three-way tiebreaker thanks to having the best record in games against the other two 8-9 teams.
Atlanta never trailed after London’s touchdown, but the Saints made it interesting in the final minutes. Rookie Tyler Shough made his last argument for the offensive rookie of the year award by hitting Ronnie Bell for a 16-yard touchdown with 1:11 left to play. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Falcons, however, and that was enough to send the Panthers on to the postseason.
Cousins was 18-of-32 for 180 yards and he also threw an interception during the win. His return to the lineup after Michael Penix’s injury ended with four straight wins and their were enough positives in the veteran’s play to think that he will have suitors in the offseason if the Falcons decide against moving forward with him as at least a contender for the starting role.
The Saints have no such questions. They fell short on Sunday, but won more than they lost after putting Shough in the lineup. He was 23-of-35 for 259 yards on Sunday and also ran three times for 34 yards and a touchdown in an outing that only solidified his spot as the quarterback of the present and future in New Orleans.
Every Sunday, NFL officiating spokesperson Walt Anderson gets a sliver of air time to talk about any/all controversial calls from the prior seven days. This week, Anderson’s small slice of real estate focused on one call — the controversial offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out 42 yards of field position in the Panthers-Buccaneers game.
We broke down the play, based on the relevant provision of the publicly-available rulebook, earlier this morning. Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan was flagged not for anything that happened while the ball was in the air, but for what he did to fight off a jam within the permissible five-yard chuck zone.
Initially, Anderson seemed to be providing the predictable, water-carrying position that McMillan veered from a permissible effort to knock the defender’s arms away and shoved the defender’s body or head. (Such subtleties don’t appear within the official rulebook.)
To his credit, Steve Mariucci then put Anderson on the spot: “What’s the correct call on this play?”
“It’s really, really close,” Anderson said. “It looks like he’s knocking the arm off, which would not be pass interference.”
Anderson added that the official who threw the flag apparently concluded that McMillan pushed the defensive back in the head.
Even if McMillan did, the topic is not expressly covered within the official rulebook. Before the pass is thrown, an offensive player may not “block” more than a yard beyond the line of scrimmage. There’s nothing in the rulebook about what an offensive player can and can’t do to get away from a defensive back who has five yards to hit the receiver in an effort to disrupt his route.
Again, it’s possible that there’s some separate provision in the “Approved Rulings” or other documentation that specifies what a receiver can or can’t do when fighting off a jam. But it’s not in the rulebook. When the ball has yet to be thrown, the rulebook only says the offensive player can’t “block” more than a yard from the line of scrimmage.
It seems like something sufficiently important to be added to the rulebook itself. We know the defensive back has a five-yard window to hit the receiver. The rulebook needs to say, with clarity, what the receiver can do beyond one yard to fend off the defender.
With all that said, and even if the separate rule Anderson cited is commonly applied, Anderson acknowledged that a mistake may have been made.
Meanwhile, the controversy from the Panthers-Bucs game regarding the blown handling of a backward pass was not addressed. The play entailed an error by the officials on the field, and a failure by the officials, the replay assistant, and the league office to properly administer the aftermath.
The Panthers should have been able to re-do the play, first and 10 from the Tampa Bay 34. Instead, the Panthers ended up with second and 17 from the 41 — in a drive that ended with a field-goal attempt that came up short.
So, yes, the Panthers and their fans have two reasons to be pissed off today. If the Saints beat the Falcons and the Bucs, not the Panthers, win the NFC South, that anger will only intensify.
In the third quarter of Saturday’s Panthers-Bucs game, Carolina receiver Tetairoa McMillan caught a 32-yard pass on third and two, giving his team a first down on the Tampa 36.
It didn’t count.
McMillan was called for offensive pass interference. Not for anything he did while the pass was incoming. For what he did to get off the line of scrimmage.
McMillan fought through a jam with a shove. And that, according to referee Brad Allen, was enough to draw a flag.
Said referee Brad Allen to pool reporter Greg Auman after the game: “The covering official saw that the receiver created separation more than one yard downfield, which by rule is illegal and is offensive pass interference.”
Is it though? We checked the rule book. The ball was not in the air. Before the ball is in the air, an offensive player can’t block more than a yard downfield. Does anyone really think McMillan was making a block?
He was trying to fight off a jam. Really, what’s a receiver supposed to do when he’s legally chucked within the five-yard window? Take it?
The defender pushes the player. The player can’t push back?
Maybe there’s some esoteric explanation in the “Approved Rulings” or other such interpretive documentation. Or maybe it’s one of those situations where the rules say one thing but the officials apply it differently. Still, as it relates to the pass interference rule as spelled out in the official 2025 rulebook (Rule 8, Section 5, Article 4), the only prohibited act by the offense before the ball is in the air is “blocking” more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage. Which is a rule that we usually only see applied when the offense is running a pick play.
So that’s the bottom line. The official who flipped 42 yards of field position (erasing the 32-yard catch and adding a 10-yard penalty for the Panthers) determined that McMillan wasn’t fending off an effort to disrupt his route but “blocking.”
If that’s truly the rule, we’ve got a feeling it rarely gets applied the way it was applied to McMillan.
Either way, we can’t wait to see what Walt Anderson has to say about this, in his usual two-minute cameo during a 240-minute pregame show.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has never been shy about sharing negative feelings about the Saints in the past, which will make Sunday a strange day for him and his entire team.
Mayfield and the Bucs beat the Panthers 16-14 on Saturday to give themselves a chance to be the NFC South champs and they now need the Saints to beat the Falcons in order to make it happen. Mayfield said last summer that he hates the Saints and called them a dirty team while reiterating his overall distaste for them ahead of an October game between the teams.
After Saturday’s win, though, Mayfield made it clear that won’t stop him from waving the flag for New Orleans on Sunday.
“That part’s disappointing, but we’re here,” Mayfield said, via the team’s website. “You can’t go back and change anything. That was the focus this week: Control today and see where the chips fall. So we did that – team win, and we’ll all be pulling for New Orleans tomorrow.”
The Buccaneers made their own bed by losing seven of eight games before Saturday’s win. If the Saints can pull off a win in Atlanta, they’ll have a blank slate to work with in the first round of the playoffs.
It’s the final day of the regular season, and the playoff field is almost set, as 12 teams have clinched playoff berths and the Seahawks have clinched the top seed in the NFC. But much else remains in flux. Here’s a list of the teams remaining in contention for each playoff seed, and how they can earn those seeds.
NFC
1. Seahawks. The Seahawks get the No. 1 seed, a first-round by and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs after beating the 49ers on Saturday night.
2. Bears or Eagles. If the Bears win or the Eagles lose, the Bears are the No. 2 seed. If the Bears lose and the Eagles win, the Eagles are the No. 2 seed.
3. Eagles or Bears. The team that doesn’t get the No. 2 seed gets the No. 3 seed. The Eagles are resting their starters and effectively conceding the No. 2 seed to the Bears and preparing to be the No. 3 seed.
4. Panthers or Buccaneers. If the Falcons win today, the Panthers win are the No. 4 seed. If the Falcons lose or tie today, the Buccaneers are the No. 4 seed.
5. 49ers or Rams. If the Rams lose or tie today, the 49ers are the No. 5 seed. If the Rams win today, the Rams are the No. 5 seed.
6. Rams or 49ers. If the Rams lose or tie today, the Rams are the No. 6 seed. If the Rams win, the 49ers are the No. 6 seed.
7. Packers. The Packers are the No. 7 seed in the NFC and will open the playoffs on the road against the No. 2 seed, regardless of anything that happens in Week 18.
AFC
1. Broncos or Patriots or Jaguars. If the Broncos win or the Patriots and Jaguars both lose, the Broncos are the No. 1 seed.
If the Patriots win and the Broncos lose, the Patriots are the No. 1 seed.
If the Jaguars win and the Broncos and Patriots both lose, the Jaguars are the No. 1 seed.
2. Patriots or Broncos or Jaguars. If the Patriots and Broncos both win, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed. If the Patriots and Jaguars both lose, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed. If the Broncos win and the Jaguars lose, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed regardless of what the Patriots do.
If the Broncos lose, the Patriots win and the Jaguars lose, the Broncos are the No. 2 seed. If the Broncos lose, the Patriots lose and the Jaguars win, the Broncos are the No. 2 seed.
If the Jaguars win, the Broncos lose and the Patriots win, the Jaguars are the No. 2 seed. If the Jaguars win, the Broncos win and the Patriots lose, the Jaguars are the No. 2 seed.
3. Jaguars or Broncos or Patriots or Texans. If the Jaguars, Broncos and Patriots all win, or the Jaguars tie, thie Jaguars are the No. 3 seed. If the Jaguars and Texans both lose, the Jaguars are the No. 3 seed. If the Broncos win, the Patriots win and the Texans lose, the Jaguars are the No. 3 seed regardless of what the Jaguars do.
If the Broncos lose and Patriots and Jaguars both win, the Broncos are the No. 3 seed.
If the Patriots lose and the Jaguars win, the Patriots are the No. 3 seed.
If the Texans win and the Jaguars lose, the Texans are the No. 3 seed.
4. Steelers or Ravens. If the Steelers beat or tie the Ravens on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers are the No. 4 seed. If the Ravens win, the Ravens are the No. 4 seed.
5. Texans or Jaguars or Chargers or Bills. If the Texans and Jaguars both win, the Texans are the No. 5 seed. If the Texans, Chargers and Bills all lose, the Texans are the No. 5 seed. If the Jaguars win and the Chargers and Bills lose, the Texans are the No. 5 seed regardless of what the Texans do.
If the Jaguars lose, the Texans win and the Bills lose, the Jaguars are the No. 5 seed. (There are also scenarios that see the Jaguars as the 5 seed based on the strength of victory tiebreaker with the Chargers.)
If the Chargers win and the Texans lose, the Chargers are the No. 5 seed. If the Chargers win and the Jaguars lose, the Chargers could also get the No. 5 seed based on clinching the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Jaguars.
If the Bills win, the Chargers lose and either the Texans or Jaguars lose, the Bills are the No. 5 seed.
6. Chargers or Jaguars or Texans or Bills. If the Chargers, Texans and Jaguars all win, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed. If the Chargers and Bills both lose, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed. If the Texans win and the Bills lose, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed regardless of what the Chargers do.
If the Jaguars and Chargers both lose, and the Texans and Bills both win, the Jaguars are the No. 6 seed.
If the Texans lose and either the Bills lose and Chargers win, or the Bills win and Chargers lose, the Texans are the No. 6 seed.
If the Bills win, the Chargers lose and the Texans and Jaguars both win, the Bills are the No. 6 seed. If the Bills win, the Chargers win and the Texans lose, the Bills are the No. 6 seed.
7. Bills or Jaguars or Texans or Chargers. If the Bills lose, the Bills are the No. 7 seed. If the Chargers, Texans and Jaguars all win, the Bills are the No. 7 seed regardless of what the Bills do.
If the Jaguars lose and the Texans, Chargers and Bills all win, the Jaguars can be the No. 7 seed if the Chargers clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Jaguars.
If the Texans lose and the Chargers and Bills both win, the Texans are the No. 7 seed.
If the Chargers lose and the Bills win, the Chargers are the No. 7 seed.
