Falcons top Saints 19-17 to send Carolina Panthers to the playoffs
If, before this season, you had asked either of the long-suffering fanbases of the Atlanta Falcons or the New Orleans Saints if they'd like to see their team playing in a Week 18 game with the NFC South title on the line, they'd have said yes, yes, please yes, without even bothering to clarify any further. But in one of those careful-what-you-wish-for moments, yes, the NFC South title was on the line, but no, neither the Saints and Falcons were involved.
Because both the Buccaneers and the Panthers finished the season 8-9, a series of tiebreakers made the Saints-Falcons game a proxy battle for the NFC South crown. Atlanta hung on to win a messy 19-17 game, sending Carolina to the playoffs and Tampa Bay home for the season. Carolina now plays in the postseason for the first time since 2017, and claims its first division crown since 2015, and the Panthers have the Falcons to thank for the final touches.
The Falcons-Saints rivalry is one of the weirder in the NFL, full of hate and disrespect, though also notably free of large-scale success. Sunday's game marked the 113th regular-season meeting between the two, and naturally, the two teams came into the game with 56 wins apiece. In all those games, though, there's never been one quite this strange, with playoff implications that didn't involve either team.
Both Atlanta and New Orleans entered this game on unexpected, irrelevant late-season runs - New Orleans has won its last four games, Atlanta its last three. And both teams played the first quarter like they'd forgotten how the game of football works. A fumble, an interception, two sacks, a blocked punt, a touchdown called back by penalty ... the opening quarter was ugly and, for the Panthers and Bucs, maddening.
The Falcons struck first, Kirk Cousins finding a wide-open Drake London in the end zone late in the first quarter:
Drake all day!
- Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) January 4, 2026
FOX | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/XmugnjytXX
But despite the quarterback mismatch - Cousins, the 14-year veteran matched against rookie Tyler Shough - the game ground down into a defensive war of attrition and field goals. Both teams had touchdowns called back because of offensive penalties. After Shough scrambled his way to a second-quarter touchdown to close the score to 10-7, the game remained within one possession for most of the rest of the way.
Shough around the corner for the score #Saints | FOX pic.twitter.com/TXkceZfGDs
- New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 4, 2026
As the game rolled on, the teams with the most interest in the outcome watched nervously. Bucs QB Baker Mayfield, for one, was locked in:
Baker Mayfield is locked in to Saints-Falcons
- FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 4, 2026
(via Emily Mayfield/IG) pic.twitter.com/rGbdFRWh8l
The Saints managed to hang around despite the absence of notables like Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara and the in-game loss of Taysom Hill. Shough, who has grown more comfortable throughout the season, nonetheless struggled to move the ball on a consistent basis. And just when New Orleans appeared to be driving toward a potential game-winning score with only a handful of minutes remaining, Shough floated a pass that Atlanta's Dee Alford plucked out of the air and returned for 59 yards and an eventual field goal.
YEAH GLO!!!!!
- Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) January 4, 2026
FOX | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/jOPkTElM0F
Given one more last-ditch drive, Shough orchestrated a 65-yard touchdown in just 1:41, capped by a beautiful one-handed touchdown grab by Ronnie Bell that closed the score to within two points. But the Saints failed to convert the onside kick, and Atlanta ran out the clock and Tampa Bay's season. Shough finished the day 23-of-35 for 259 yards, one touchdown and that crucial interception. Cousins, in what may or may not be his last game as a Falcon, was 18-of-32 for 180 yards, plus a touchdown and an interception.
Although the specifics of this game were largely unimportant in the grand scheme of the season, both teams have elements to build on for 2026. Both defenses far outplayed their offensive counterparts, with New Orleans recording four sacks on Cousins and Atlanta's young defense shutting down Shough and the beleaguered Saints.
The Saints might have found at least a stopgap solution in Shough, who - late interception notwithstanding - has developed into a serviceable quarterback in the final games of this season. Atlanta, on the other hand, has more consequential decisions at the quarterback position. And given the fact that Atlanta finished 8-9 alongside the division leaders, but managed to eliminate itself from the postseason weeks ago, the Falcons have a lot to regret from this lost season. But they should at least get a nice thank-you gift basket from the Panthers.