Carolina won for the fifth time in the last six meetings against New Orleans and leads the all-time series 15-12. The Panthers and Saints will play again at the Louisiana Superdome on December 28.

This is our last regular season game. Let's hope we have wrapped up the division by then and maybe even a playoff bye.

This represented just the second time this season that the Panthers had the same starting combination along the offensive line in back-to-back games. Right guard Keydrick Vincent is the only offensive lineman to start every game.

Kudos to C Geoff Hangartner and RT Jeremy Bridges for their contribution of allowing Williams and Stewart to get their yards.

Jake Delhomme completed 14-of-22 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions to produce a 122.3 quarterback rating. He threw touchdown passes of 39 yards to wide receiver Steve Smith and four yards to running back DeAngelo Williams in the third quarter.

A great bounce back from last week and good to see the ball spread around. I still find it interesting that he's overthrown Steve Smith several times this year. Don't say I remember him doing that before the surgery, at least as much.

[Steve Smith] scored on a 39-yard reception in the third quarter to break a tie with Muhsin Muhammad for the most total touchdowns in team history with 47. Of his 47 touchdowns, Smith has 39 receiving, two rushing, two on kickoff returns and four on punt returns.

He has posted 28 receptions for a team-leading 496 yards and two touchdowns this season.

Smith ranks first in team history with 47 total touchdowns, is second with 459 catches, 6,423 receiving yards and 24 games with 100 or more receiving yards and stands third with 39 receiving touchdowns.

It's great to have Smith back on the field this season and the fact that he leads the team with receiving yards despite starting two games less once again shows how important he is to the team.

Williams leads the Panthers with 414 yards and two touchdowns on 103 carries this season, while Stewart is second with 352 yards and five touchdowns on 88 attempts. Stewart's 352 yards rank as the third most by a rookie in team history behind Fred Lane's 809 in 1997 and Williams' 501 in 2006. His five rushing touchdowns stand as the second most by a rookie in team history, trailing Lane's seven in 1997.

It's great to have both of them on board. They make a great duo on the field. Together have help the team be ranked 8th in total rushing yards at 798 team yards.

Through seven games, Carolina has been successful on 14-of-17 red zone opportunities, scoring eight touchdowns and six field goals for an 82.4 percent conversion rate and a 47.1 percent touchdown conversion rate.

While I'd prefer the touchdown percentage to be higher, I can't complain a ton about the 82.4%. Good job guys.

Carolina forced two turnovers – a fumble that was recovered by safety Chris Harris and forced by defensive end Julius Peppers, who ranks as the Panthers' all-time leader with 21 forced fumbles, and an interception by cornerback Ken Lucas, who leads the team with two picks this season.

I have to say I didn't realize Pepper was the leader in forced fumbles. But he better watch out as Chris Harris is going to try to catch him.

The Panthers yielded 343 total net yards to the Saints, who were ranked second in the NFL in total offense with an average of 412.2 yards per game. Carolina limited New Orleans – who began the game leading the NFL with an average of 324.7 passing yards per game – to 228 passing yards and prevented quarterback Drew Brees from becoming the third player in NFL history to throw for at least 320 yards in five consecutive games. The Saints – who were rated second in the NFL in third-down efficiency – converted only five-of-12 third-down opportunities and zero-of-two fourth-down chances.

All I can say is awesome job guys.

The Panthers corralled one quarterback sack by defensive end Julius Peppers against the Saints and have gathered 11 this season. Peppers leads the team with four sacks this season and ranks as the Panthers' all-time leader with 60.0 sacks.

I do agree with Jaxon that the measure of a DE performance is not by their sack total. It is nice however that Peppers could add to his against the Saints.

John Kasay connected on all three of his field goal attempts, converting from 39, 48 and 28 yards, and all three of his extra point chances. He has been successful on all 14 of his field goal attempts and perfect on all 15 of his extra point opportunities for a team-leading 57 points this season. Kasay has made a team-record 103 consecutive extra points and 19 consecutive field goals, the second-longest streak in team history behind his team-record 21 in 2003. He ranks ninth all-time in NFL history with 372 made field goals and 13th with 1,561 points scored, including a franchise record 1,220 for the Panthers.

Glad you're still with us. I really hope we can reward him with a ring this year.

Thanks in part to kickoff specialist Rhys Lloyd, the Saints had an average kickoff drive start of their own 26-yard line following seven kickoffs. Lloyd placed five-of-seven kickoffs in the end zone and recorded three touchbacks. He has reached the end zone on 26-of-35 kickoffs and leads the league with 15 touchbacks this season.

He's definitely worth the roster spot.

Punter Jason Baker generated a gross average of 47.4 yards and net average of 38.0 yards with one touchback and long of 50 yards on five punts. Baker's gross average increased to 46.8 yards and his net average improved to 37.7 yards with 12 inside the 20, three touchbacks, three blocks and long of 63.

No block punts. That's good news in my book.

The Panthers surrendered a sack in the first quarter, ending their team-record streak of three consecutive games without allowing a sack.

I liked that streak but realized it was bound to end at some point. Only allowing 10 sacks through 7 games is much better than what Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Cassel, and J.T. O'Sullivan have had to go through with 18, 19, and 23 time sacked respectively.