Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints

TV: CBS, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

Records: Panthers 5-5, Saints 8-2

Line: Saints by 9½

Panthers’ keys: They must get their MVP candidate, RB Christian McCaffrey, going early against a stout New Orleans defense to supplement their inconsistent passing game.

Saints’ keys: Better execution on offense. They’ve committed too many penalties and settled for too many field goals recently.

Who wins? Carolina is struggling while the Saints appear to have purged any lingering demons from their loss to the Falcons two weeks ago. Saints 20, Panthers 14

— John Sigler