The Carolina Panthers' loss to the New Orleans Saints tightened the playoff margin for error to almost nothing. And inside the locker room, Pro Bowl defensive lineman Derrick Brown wasn’t interested in ignoring it.
“We’ve still got everything in front of us,” Brown said. “But you’ve got to put this behind us and get back to work.”
That phrase, get back to work, came up again and again, not as deflection, but as reality.
To make matters worse, Carolina had a chance to move a full game ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South after their defeat to the Atlanta Falcons.