Sole possession of first place in the NFC South is on the line when the New Orleans Saints host the Carolina Panthers in a Week 10 matchup. Both teams come in with 3-5 records, a half game ahead of the 3-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. This is the first of two meetings between the Saints and Panthers. New Orleans swept the division series last year and have won five of the last six meetings against Carolina.

Despite being swept by the Saints, Carolina won last year's NFC South title with an 8-9 record. It was the eighth consecutive year that the Panthers had a losing record. The Saints are trying to snap a five-year stretch without a playoff trip. Sunday is the 64th matchup between these teams. Here's who has the historical edge.

Saints vs. Panthers series history

• Overall: 34-29

• Home: 18-14

• Last 10 matchups: 6-4

• Last 10 matchups in New Orleans: 8-2

• Last 5 matchups: 4-1

• Last 5 matchups in New Orleans: 4-1

• Longest Saints winning streak: 5 (2000-02)

• Longest Panthers winning streak: 4 (2002-04; 2005-07)

• Last meeting (2025): Saints (20-17)

Carolina first entered the NFL during their 1995 expansion season. They were placed in the NFC West with the Saints and made the move with New Orleans to the NFC South during 2002 realignment. In their NFC West days, the Saints owned a 8-6 advantage over the Panthers overall and 5-2 at home.

Once the NFC South was formed in 2002, Carolina took the first four meetings, 8 of the first 10, and 11 of the first 15 between these clubs through the end of the 2009 season. Included among that was the biggest oddity of this series, with the Panthers winning seven straight matchups in New Orleans between 2002 and 2008. Since then, the Saints have wrestled away control by going 13-5 at home against the Panthers since 2009 and 22-12 in the series overall. One of those was a Wild-Card playoff victory over the Panthers on Jan. 18, 2018, a 31-26 win by the Saints in New Orleans. Before last season, that 2017 campaign was the last time Carolina had made the playoffs.

While the Panthers are reigning division champs, they are coming off a season sweep at the hands of the Saints. In that first 2025 loss, then-rookie quarterback Tyler Shough notched his his first career victory by throwing for 282 yards and 2 scores. Five weeks later, Shough tossed for 272 yards and a touchdown to complete the season sweep. In those two meetings, Shough has completed 72.9% of his throws for 554 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception.

Fourth-year Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is only 1-5 against the Saints. In those six matchups, Young has a 55.2% completion with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while averaging just 151.5 passing yards per meeting and getting sacked 16 times. He's never thrown for as many as 175 yards against New Orleans, being held to under 150 yards twice. Young is 0-3 at New Orleans, completing only 45.6% of his passes with 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions, and an average of 153 yards while getting sacked 9 times in those contests.