This is a prime time Monday night game. But the Panthers are not a prime time team yet. Not with Bryce Young in his NFL infancy, lacking weapons and playing behind a mediocre offensive line that lost left guard Brady Christensen for the season last week against a New Orleans defense that hasn't allowed more than 20 points per game during its last nine games.

Carolina was held to 10 points and 281 yards by the Falcons last Sunday. Young's longest completion was 14 yards. He threw for only 146 yards and was intercepted twice. New Orleans has a better defense than Atlanta.

The Saints have given up an average of 11.2 points in their last four games going back to last season.

New Orleans also has the more dynamic offense with Derek Carr, Chris Olave, a finally-healthy Michael Thomas and emerging tight end Juwan Johnson. The Panthers lost one of their better players in their secondary with cornerback Jaycee Horn suffering a hamstring injury that will keep him out a while.

First-year Carolina coach Frank Reich has a history of slow starts. His Colts teams of the previous five years were 2-5-1 SU, 3-5 ATS during the first two weeks of the season.

The Saints are serious playoff contenders. The Panthers are in rebuild mode. New Orleans is at least one, if not two tiers, higher than Carolina.