We think hes ready now,"

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In short order, you will find out the identity of the NFC Souths best team. . With two meetings scheduled over the next three weeks, the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints are set to battle for division supremacy as well as a potential first-round bye in the NFC playoff picture. Things get started this Sunday night in the Big Easy with the sequel set for Charlotte on Dec. 22. Catch all the action on TSN starting with Football Night in America at 7pm et/4pm pt. "Its like youre getting the best of the best," NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth said when talking about this weeks affair, which will air nationally on "Sunday Night Football." "Youre going to see Carolinas defense, led by Luke Kuechly, going into the Superdome where weve seen everybody struggle to try and stop that offense with Drew Brees. Its going to be fantastic." Fantastic indeed. Carolina has won a franchise-record eight consecutive games, including last weeks dominating 27-6 victory over Tampa Bay. For their next trick the Panthers will attempt to become just the second NFL team to win nine consecutive this season (joining Kansas City) and the first club to beat Brees and Co. in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Panthers quarterback Cam Newton passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another against the Bucs, while Carolinas defense, which leads the NFL in fewest points allowed (157), limited Tampa Bay to 206 total net yards and no touchdowns. Newton threw for 263 yards with two interceptions while adding 68 yards and a TD on the ground. Brandon LaFell and Ted Ginn Jr. each had touchdown catches in the rout. "People want to keep pointing at me, but the truth of the matter is our defense is playing lights out and giving us opportunities," admitted Newton. The Saints, meanwhile, are 6-0 at home this season and Brees leads the NFL with a 122.2 home passer rating, which includes 19 touchdowns and only three interceptions. However, New Orleans was blitzed in Seattle on Monday night when Russell Wilson had three touchdowns passes and the Seahawks became the first team to clinch a playoff spot with a resounding 34-7 win over the Saints. The Seattle defense did its part on Monday, limiting Brees to just 147 yards and a touchdown on 23-for-38 passing, and allowing the Saints to cross midfield just once in the first three quarters while also stopping NOLA twice on fourth down in the fourth quarter. The seven total points matched the lowest output the Saints have scored since Sean Payton took over the team in 2006, while the 188 total yards accrued were the fewest in Payton-era. "That first half was real tough and we just couldnt get anything going," said Brees. "We had a bunch of three-and-outs before we had that one drive where we scored. But after that we just couldnt do much at all. We took one in the chin today." With the loss, its first since dropping a game in New York to the Jets on Nov. 3, New Orleans fell into a tie for first in the NFC South with Carolina, and two games behind the Seahawks for the conferences top spot. "Well make sure well get the corrections made because theres a lot of things we didnt do well," said Payton. "Its a short week and we have some work to do here." The Panthers lead the all-time series with the Saints by a slim 19-17 margin after sweeping the season series a year ago. WHAT TO WATCH FOR This is your classic matchup of strength versus strength pitting New Orleans powerful offense against Carolinas league-leading D. Forget the Saints team you saw in Seattle, this is a totally different bunch on the fast track in the dome. New Orleans is unbeaten and averages 33.2 points a game at home this season while outscoring opponents 199-95 in six contests. The Panthers, on the other hand, have won four consecutive on the road and their defense is allowing an NFL-low 13.1 points per game and only 289.8 yards per contest, second best in football. Carolina is also the last team to actually beat the Saints in NOLA, earning a 44-38 decision last December. "There are a lot of things theyre doing offensively that make you say, Wow," Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. "A lot of people thought last year that Jimmy Graham had an off-year, but now watching him he looks like hes in the form he was two years ago. Darren Sproles, Ive got a bottle of Tums next to me because he is a heck of a football player. And Drew Brees is having a classic Drew Brees season." Rivera touched on the two players that make the New Orleans offense so difficult to deal with, matchup nightmares Graham and Sproles. The lengthy Graham has 68 receptions for 988 yards and 12 TDs on the season and six 100-yard games, the most ever for a tight end, while Sproles leads all NFL running backs with 216 catches, 1,872 receiving yards and 16 receiving TDs since 2011. Helping matters for Carolina could be the possible return of star pass rusher Charles Johnson, who has missed the last two games with a sprained knee. Johnson leads the Panthers with 8 1/2 sacks and since the 2010 season is one of just two NFL players with 40-plus sacks (41.5) and 10-plus forced fumbles (10). Kuechly, meanwhile, has settled in as the best middle linebacker in the game, compiling 266 tackles since debuting in 2012, the most in all of football over that period. The Carolina offense isnt nearly as formidable save for the dynamic Newton, who has thrown 19 touchdowns and rushed for six more so far this season. Veteran receiver Steve Smith and tight end Greg Olsen have been Newtons favorite targets but neither will pop the top off a defense at this stage. Newton, though, seems to have realized that he can live to play another down so to speak and punting the football isnt the worst thing in the world with his defense. Taking care of the football is paramount to the Panthers and Newton has done so in recent weeks, although he did throw two picks against Tampa Bay. Overall, Carolina has turned it over just seven times during its winning streak and is one of only five teams with a plus-10 turnover ratio. "We know that were going to have to minimize these turnovers," Newton said. OVERALL ANALYSIS A dismal trip to Seattle and a short week for the Saints was further exacerbated when the teams chartered flight out of the Pacific Northwest was delayed a day. "Its a setback and now youre on a short week, but we have to make the corrections," Payton said. "We have to quickly get focused on Carolina. Theyre playing as good football as anybody in the league right now." The best way to forget about the Seahawks and Seattle is to get back on the horse in the dome and halt Carolinas franchise-record winning streak. Expect the fast track to be the difference here before the Panthers rebound to hold serve in Charlotte down the road. Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Saints 27, Panthers 17 .B. -- Patrick Chan battled some old demons Saturday night, the negative feelings that had crept into his competitions last season. . Toronto coach Scott Milanovich was the first in the CFL to avail himself of the chance to challenge the officials failure to rule pass interference on a play and subject it to video review. His challenge stood and it helped set up Steve Slatons second touchdown of the game to put Toronto ahead 24-16. . - From his perch atop Regan Smiths pit box, team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.As their Subway Series shifts to Citi Field, the New York Yankees and New York Mets will both turn to rookies on Wednesday evening with differing expectations. Watch the action on TSN2 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. After dropping a pair of games to the Mets in the Bronx, the Yankees losing streak in this series has reached six in a row. They also have lost a season- high four straight overall and hope that Masahiro Tanaka can stop the bleeding in the first of two straight in Flushing. The right-handed Tanaka has yet to lose as a Major League pitcher, going 5-0 with a 2.57 earned run average through seven starts. However, dating back to his time in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Japanese hurler is unbeaten in his past 41 regular-season starts, going 33-0 since Aug. 19, 2012. Tanaka has won two straight starts and is coming off a 5-3 victory at Milwaukee on Friday. He gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven. He has won all three of his road starts this season while posting a 2.61 ERA. The 25-year-old also is the first Yankees rookie to begin his career 5-0 as a starter since Whitey Ford went 9-0 over 12 starts in 1950. The Mets have decided to give their future a shot on Wednesday night as 23- year-old Rafael Montero will make his MLB debut. Hell take the place of fellow righty Jenrry Mejia, who shifts to the bullpen. Montero is regarded as the Mets second-best pitching prospect behind Noah Syndergaard and went 4-1 with a 3.67 ERA in eight starts this season with Triple-A Las Vegas. In 24 starts at that level over the last two seasons, he is 9-5 with a 3.25 ERA while striking out 119 batters over 130 1/3 innings. And while the Yankees are looking for Tanaka to get them back on track, the Mets are simply ready to see what Montero can bring to the table. "We think hes ready now," Mets general manager Saandy Alderson told his clubs website of Montero. . "I think everybody in our system thought that he was ready. That doesnt mean hell have a positive result on Wednesday, but were confident that Montero is somebody who can be successful long term." Though the Mets have allowed 14 runs over the first two games of this extended series, they have gotten plenty of offense themselves in winning both games at Yankee Stadium. They jumped out to a quick lead on Tuesday night and rolled to a 12-7 win. Former Yankee Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy both hit three-run homers, with Murphy driving in four runs in total and David Wright adding three hits with two RBI to the Mets third straight win. Zack Wheeler gave up five runs on seven hits and six walks in 4 1/3 innings for the Mets and Daisuke Matsuzaka earned the win with 3 2/3 innings of relief work. "Any way we get wins is good, especially when we come up against a very tough team like the Yankees and to do it in their ballpark is obviously big," said Granderson. "It puts us in a position now to win the series but it definitely isnt done yet because we know the Yankees arent going to quit." The Mets have won the past six meetings in this series after having gone 3-9 against the Yankees in 2011-12. Vidal Nuno gave up seven runs -- five earned -- on four hits and four walks in just 3 1/3 innings to suffer the loss. The leftys ERA climbed nearly a full point to 6.43. "He just got some balls in the middle of the plate today," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "Hes a guy who has to live on the edges and they made it hurt." Brian McCann hit a two-run homer and Yangervis Solarte added a solo shot for the Yankees, who have lost nine of their past 13 games overall. McCann finished with three hits and three RBI. ' ' '