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CHARLOTTE Mario Addison Jersey 2019 , N.C. (AP) —Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara.The two NFC South running backs have followed up strong rookie campaigns with even better second seasons for the Panthers and Saints, who’ll meet Monday night in a game with big playoff ramifications for both teams.McCaffrey has 926 yards rushing and 701 yards receiving. He has a chance to join Roger Craig and Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the only running backs in NFL history to post 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season.Kamara, the 2017 Offensive Rookie of the Year, has 1,384 yards from scrimmage and needs five scores in the final three weeks for a 20-touchdown season.“They’re both highly versatile players,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees . “So, great in the run game. They’ve got great instincts and a great feel for making cuts, breaking tackles, just a level of elusiveness that’s pretty unique. And then their ability to catch balls and really be receivers outside the pocket is very unique as well.”The only difference in the two this season has been in the win-loss column. The Panthers and Saints have been heading in opposite directions since early November.Carolina (6-7) has lost five straight — despite 747 total yards and eight touchdowns from McCaffrey during that span — and is in dire need of a win to keep its slim playoff hopes alive . Kamara and backfield mate Mark Ingram have New Orleans (11-2) out in front in the NFC and looking to stay a step ahead of the Los Angeles Rams in the battle for the top seed and home-field advantage in theplayoffs.Both teams will be counting on their all-purpose backs down the stretch.“Oh man Blue Mario Addison Jersey , he’s a heck of a player,” McCaffrey said of Kamara.McCaffrey said he spends some of his off days studying film on Kamara and looking at some of what he does to see if he can incorporate it into his own game.“It’s been fun watching him and it’s kind of cool, a lot of similarities obviously in our game,” McCaffrey said. “He’s a good one to watch.”McCaffrey was Carolina’s first-round pick in 2017, while Kamara slipped to the Saints in the third round.Kamara said he and McCaffrey do a lot of the same things, yet still have different styles. But he too keeps an eye on what other backs from the Class of 2017 are doing in the NFL, including McCaffrey.“Christian is a great back,” Kamara said. “We came in in the same class so I think it is just respect for all backs that we came in with whether it’s Christian or Leonard (Fournette) or Dalvin (Cook) or anybody. We all kind of watch each other. We talk in the offseason. He’s having a great year and definitely doing a lot of good things. So I see it.”McCaffrey and Kamara have joined Todd Gurley and Saquon Barkley as the league has put added value in recent years on versatile running backs.Saints coach Sean Payton said that with the formations and the running schemes in the NFL that have begun to resemble college football in terms of zone reads and run-pass option plays “those type of players are a handful.”“He’s very gifted in the passing game, he’s got exceptional vision, and I think he runs with good balance and power Limited DJ Moore Jersey ,” Payton said of McCaffrey.“You see him in goal line situations, short-yardage situations. He’s a guy that’s very difficult to defend in space, and I think that’s the same way Alvin is. I think that those are explosive guys that can change the field position very quickly.” CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cam Newton sat at his locker for several minutes after Sunday’s game, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands cupped firmly around the back of his head while staring motionless at the floor.The 2015 MVP couldn’t believe how the Panthers had managed to lose their third straight game, 30-27 to the Seattle Seahawks — despite playing so well offensively for the majority of the game.“Three weeks ago if somebody had said this was going to happen I would have slapped them,” Newton said later. “But things happen and nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We are just opening up a lot of hope for a lot of other teams, and we can’t allow that to happen.”But the Panthers already have.Following Sunday night’s game in which Minnesota beat Green Bay 24-17, the Panthers (6-5) were on the outside looking in at the NFC playoff picture. With five games remaining, they trailed the Vikings (6-4-1) Elite DJ Moore Jersey , Redskins (6-5) and Seahawks (6-5) in the hunt for the two wild card spots.All of that would have been hard to imagine three weeks ago for the Panthers, who were 6-2 after a 42-28 win over Tampa Bay on Nov. 4.Cracks in the armor began to surface on a Thursday night in Pittsburgh when the Steelers clobbered the Panthers 52-21.Carolina followed that up with a 20-19 stinker on the road in Detroit when coach Ron Rivera unsuccessfully opted to go for 2 in the final seconds of regulation. On Sunday, the Panthers led the Seahawks 27-20 with less than seven minutes remaining after Newton connected on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey.But a stalled late-game drive, a missed 52-yard field goal by Graham Gano and a defensive breakdown in the secondary set the stage for Seattle’s comeback, which ended Carolina’s 10-game home winning streak.“You’re 6-2 and now you’re 6-5. I don’t know if that’s how anybody saw it going,” tight end Greg Olsen said.Carolina has a chance to right itself the next two weeks at Tampa Bay and Cleveland, but it closes the season with two games against division leader New Orleans (10-1), which has looked nearly unstoppable on offense, and one game against Atlanta, a team it lost to earlier this season on the road.“We just need to win one game right now Game DJ Moore Jersey ,” Olsen said.Carolina lost its season-worst third straight on a day when the offense played as well as it has all season.Christian McCaffrey ran 17 times for 125 yards and a touchdown and caught 11 passes for 112 yards and another score to set a franchise record for total yards from scrimmage. He also became the first Carolina player ever to have 100 yards receiving and 100 yards rushing in a game as the Panthers piled up 476 yards.Newton was solid, completing 25 of 30 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns and running for 63 yards on eight carries. But two mistakes deep in Seattle territory loomed large. He threw an interception in the end zone and failed to pick up a first down on a fourth-and-2 run near the goal line early in the game.“I think we have playmakers all over the field and a lot of guys did an awesome job today,” McCaffrey said. “It’s just a matter of finding a way to finish. We played fast and we stayed focused and at the end of the game. We’ve got to find a way to win. That’s what the great teams do.”Carolina’s defense has been leaky.Defensive coordinator Eric Washington’s unit has allowed 102 points over the past three weeks while surrendering an average of 387.6 yards per game. They’ve registered four sacks during that span and forced just two turnovers.For a unit that includes a future Hall of Famer in Julius Peppers alongside Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Kawann Short, those are tough numbers to swallow.It didn’t help that the Panthers lost starting cornerback Donte Jackson on the first play from scrimmage to a quad injury and turned to Captain Munnerlyn and Corn Elder. Both allowed big pass plays in the fourth quarter.Rivera’s message to the team was to “stick together” and Peppers agreed.“We can’t worry about what happened today,” Peppers said. “We can’t worry about what everyone else is doing. We have to worry about ourselves and have to stick together and move forward.”