CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Football players watching football during their bye week is pretty much right on brand.

But this was different. For the Carolina Panthers’ players and coaches who tuned in to the New Orleans Saints-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game Sunday, it amounted to scoreboard watching — a practice more associated with baseball and a concept foreign to the Panthers since the days of Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and late owner Jerry Richardson.

Offensive lineman Austin Corbett had NFL RedZone pulled up on his big-screen TV, while he followed the Saints-Bucs matchup on his phone.

Corbett, like Panthers coach Dave Canales, admitted becoming part of the Who Dat nation for a day. When rookie quarterback Tyler Shough and the Saints came away with a 24-20 win on a rainy, muddy day in Tampa, it left the Panthers tied with the Bucs for first place in the NFC South.

“I’ve gotta be honest, I got a little emotionally involved in the game at times. It’s something I try to remind our players is like, watch these games but try not to get too emotionally connected,” Canales said. “But how can you not? It impacts all of us in this division.”

So Canales was cheering for the Saints?

“I mean, anything that helps, right?” said Canales, Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator for a season in 2023.

Corbett was fired up when Shough scored on two second-half touchdown runs to lead the Saints to their third win of the season. “Quarterback Tyler, I was a big fan yesterday,” Corbett said, grinning. “He had a couple big runs for ‘em. It was awesome.”

Even the Panthers who didn’t keep up with the game knew what was at stake. Xavier Legette, the second-year wideout from South Carolina, learned the Saints had won when he saw the score on the scroll during the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs game Sunday night.

“The first thought came to my head (was), like, where does that place us?” Legette said.

The answer: In a tie atop the division in December for the first time since 2017, when Newton was in the midst of a 3,300-yard passing season, Ron Rivera was the coach and the Panthers made the playoffs as a wild-card entrant in Richardson’s final season as owner.

They haven’t been back to the postseason since — a seven-year absence tied with the Atlanta Falcons for the second-longest, active drought in the NFL. (With their 34-10 loss to Miami on Sunday, the New York Jets extended their playoff drought to 15 years.)

The Panthers (7-6) can end their drought without any help by sweeping the Bucs, who visit Charlotte in Week 16 before the teams close out the regular season two weeks later in Tampa. Even if Carolina were to lose its other two games (at New Orleans, vs. Seattle) and Tampa Bay won its other games (vs. Atlanta, at Miami), the Panthers would win the division based on their head-to-head record against the Bucs, which is the first tiebreaker.

It’s also possible the division is wrapped up by Week 16 — if the Bucs (7-6) lose to the Falcons on Thursday and to the Panthers on Dec. 21, or if the Panthers fall at New Orleans this weekend and to Tampa Bay the following week.

Because of the meat still left on the bone, Panthers’ players had a measured take on their current spot in the standings.

“We’ve just gotta do it. We’ve still got four more games. We’ve got four opportunities, and we’ve gotta stay into the play on all four of ‘em,” Legette said. “Because the same way how we’re in it, we can be out of it.”

Cornerback Mike Jackson offered a similar response. “Being tied for first, yeah, it’s cool,” he said. “But still gotta play the Saints, still gotta play the Bucs twice. To me, it don’t really mean much.”

Corbett said it was “weird” going from rooting for the Saints to preparing to face them Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. While the Panthers might be tempted to look ahead to the two showdowns with Tampa Bay, memories of Week 10 should help keep them focused.

Fresh off an upset of the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, the Panthers sleep-walked through a 17-7 defeat to the Saints at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers scored on their opening possession, then went 0-for-the rest of the game, finishing with 175 total yards, the second-fewest in Canales’ two seasons as coach and offensive play caller.

Bryce Young threw for just 124 yards, with one completion longer than 13 yards — a 26-yarder to rookie Tetairoa McMillan. Making his second start, Shough torched the Carolina secondary with 282 passing yards, highlighted by throws of 62, 52, 30 and 26 yards.

Tyler Shough had the best came of his rookie season in Week 10 against the Panthers, throwing for 282 yards and two touchdowns. (Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)

“He’s been doing his thing,” Moehrig said of the 26-year-old QB. “A young guy, just making plays. He’s finding a way to get his team on board and finding ways to win. That’s the biggest thing I took away from that (Tampa Bay) game, and even the game against us.”

Following the first game against New Orleans, left tackle Ikem Ekwonu and rookie edge rusher Nic Scourton were critical of the intensity level that week. Scourton said there was a “lackadaisical energy” at practice and wondered whether some players had gotten “too big-headed” after the win at Green Bay.

Scourton avoided the topic Monday, saying: “We’re excited to go 1-0 and play the Saints this week.”

With several starters back from injury or suspension (in Moehrig’s case), Canales said the Panthers should take “as strong of a group as we’ve had” to New Orleans. Cornerback Jaycee Horn and linebacker Claudin Cherelus are progressing in the concussion protocol, while linebacker Christian Rozeboom (hip/hamstring) and center Cade Mays (ankle) were back on the practice field after missing games before the bye.

Those reinforcements, combined with the positive, first-place vibes, brought a “mature energy” to Monday’s meetings and practice, according to Corbett.

“I think there’s an understanding of there’s work that has to get done, and there’s a moment that hasn’t been around this place since I’ve been here, where we’re in a tie for first. We can go get this, and it’s all in our hands,” he said. “We don’t have to rely on anything else. We get to go control our destiny. So there is a mature respect for the moment that I think hasn’t been around this place in a while.”