But the Panthers nudged ahead on a 40-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the first half, then expanded the lead to 17-7 when quarterback Bryce Young threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Coker with 9:54 left in the third.
Three consecutive possessions resulted in a fourth-down stop by New Orleans’ defense, a fourth-down stop by Carolina’s defense, and a forced punt by New Orleans before the frantic finish.
The game-tying drive began at the Saints’ 22-yard line with 4:37 left, and Shough completed six of seven passes for 83 yards, including the 12-yard score to Olave with 2:29 left. He connected with Olave, who had game highs of six catches for 85 yards, four times for 63 yards on the drive.
Carolina drove from its 29 to its 43 on its final drive before stalling and punting, with the Saints beginning the game’s final drive at their 9-yard line following a holding penalty on the punt return.
Shough completed three passes for 43 yards, spiked the ball to stop the clock with 12 seconds left, then scrambled for four yards and drew a personal foul penalty because he was hit after he started his slide. The 15 yards pushed the Saints from Carolina’s 44 to the 29, backup quarterback Spencer Rattler subbed in for the injured Shough to throw incomplete and sift three seconds off the clock to lower it to six seconds, and Smyth popped the winner on second-and-10.
“It was huge,” Shough said of the victory. “I felt like we had played well on the road but we wanted to show the fans what we could do here, just as a team collectively. Just the resiliency, just a lot of fun. We’re just proud of everybody throughout the whole game, especially against a really good team. Two playoff teams, back to back. It was a lot of fun.”