"It's hard to beat a team three times."
On the relatively rare occasion that a team squares off in the playoffs against a division foe it swept in the regular season, that cliché is always thrown out.
But should the saying be thrown into the garbage?
At first glance, maybe. Upon further inspection, perhaps not.
A deep dive into the history of such matchups provides reasons for the Panthers to believe that the third time will be the charm when they visit the New Orleans Saints for an NFC Wild Card matchup Sunday (4:40 p.