CHARLOTTE — There is a house in New Orleans, and they call it Caesars Superdome. It's been a burr for the Carolina Panthers in recent years, and the club has not won there since Week 18 of the 2022 season. But in a tight division race, on the precipice of the second half of the season, Carolina knows how important this Week 10 matchup against the Saints is.

"A lot of excitement in the group, understanding what we're playing for with the Saints on Sunday," said coach Dave Canales this week. "So, it's for all of us to stick together to travel and to take our football on the road and come out with the win."

Both teams have three wins; the Panthers have lost three in a row, and the Saints, who also lost three in a row earlier in the season, are coming off an overtime win against the Cleveland Browns.

From Bryce Young's career year to stopping Tyler Shough and more, here are five things to watch as the Panthers take on the Saints in New Orleans.

Is Bryce back on a heater?

After a short two-game stretch in which he dropped under 250 passing yards, quarterback Bryce Young returned to his normal rhythm in Week 9. Against one of the NFL's strongest pressure defenses, Young went 28-of-39 for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

He's averaging 274.6 yards per game, largely thanks to his trio of pass-catchers: Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, and Darren Waller. The tight ends, as a unit, have already pulled in seven touchdowns this season, including Waller, who leads all Panthers receivers with four scores.

Receiver Xavier Legette is also eligible to be activated at any time over the next two weeks.

The Saints passing defense ranks 28th overall, allowing an average of 236.6 yards per game through the air.

When facing single-high coverage, Young has thrown for 1,135 yards, the seventh-most among quarterbacks this season, along with 11 touchdowns, the second-most, and two interceptions. The Saints have allowed 1,402 passing yards in single-high coverage this season, the third-most among teams, along with a league-high 11 touchdowns.

But the Saints also have four interceptions in single-high coverage, tied for the fourth-most among defenses.

Young, who is 1-5 against New Orleans in his NFL career, knows he can't dwell on those five losses.

"I just got to execute," Young said this week. "We're all about it; it's a week-by-week league. We have to do everything we can to execute this week. Anything in the past, good or bad, doesn't entitle us to anything. We got to go out and earn it one play at a time.

"They have a really good unit. We're excited for the challenge, so it's just taking it week-by-week; certain things that, if you can try and reference something old, they probably know that too. So, it's a fun chess match, of course, in these division opponents."

Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss could bring some pressure on Sunday. He's tied for sixth amongst all linebackers with 13 pressures. This Carolina team is familiar with Elliss, though, after three years with the Falcons and four years in his first stint in New Orleans.

"They love rushing five, and he's kind of that fifth element a lot of the time," explained running back Chuba Hubbard, who pitches in on pass protection a lot. "So whether he's up on the ball already, they move him all over the place, or he's off the ball, he tries to affect the game in that way. He does a really good job, obviously, hence your stat there. So props to him, props to their defense. It'll be a good challenge. I'm looking forward to it."

The trenches

The Panthers' offensive line allowed 11 sacks over a two-game span in Week 7 and Week 8. Those were, unsurprisingly, the two games Young produced his fewest passing yards of the season. And season-long, Young has been pressured the second-most times of any QB.

But this past Sunday, against the defense that applied more quarterback pressures than any team in the league, the line found consistency it had sorely lacked. Young was pressured 15 times, the third-fewest of any game thus far this season.

Torricelli Simpkins III filled in admirably, but the Panthers will be happy to get back left guard Damien Lewis this week. After missing Week 8 and Week 9 (knee), the veteran had no game designation this week, indicating he will be good to play.

The Saints traded defensive tackle Davon Godchaux to the Jaguars this week. He began the season as a starter, and though he hadn't technically started the last three games, New Orleans front rotates in a lot of guys, and Godchaux was a part of that rotation.

The biggest factors on the Saints' defensive front, though, are Chase Young and Carl Granderson. The duo has 15.5 sacks between them (and only 0.5 sacks separate them), making them the most productive pass-rushing duo in the NFL. The next closest Saints defender has 2.0 sacks.

Hubbard and the Panthers' penchant for using 13 personnel (with three tight ends) can help spread that defensive pressure out. Carolina uses the grouping at the 10th-highest rate in the league and averages 5.1 yards per play out of 13 personnel, the eighth-highest mark in the league.

The trenches, vice versa

The Panthers promised the defense would go on more of an attack mode under Todd Wash, and did just that in Week 9. Now, they have a chance to do so again, and against an offensive line that will be down two starters.

The Saints announced on Friday that starting right tackle Taliesè Fuaga and starting center Erik McCoy would both be out with respective injuries.

This week, the Panthers — namely defensive coordinator Todd Wash — also promised that rookie defensive tackle Lee Hunter would see the field more than he did against the Broncos. He played just 13 snaps last week, the fewest of the five active defensive tackles, and still turned in two tackles and a tackle for loss.

Wash explained some of that was due to miscommunication in the first week after changes to three defensive coaches. But that it would be addressed for this game plan.

"We had a plan; we had base (defense) up, where Lee obviously starts in base, but we played a lot of our four-down stuff and big nickel, as we call it, where there are only two interior D-linemen out there. And as the game went on, obviously, we didn't play as much base, so he didn't get enough reps," explained Wash.

"It is a major, major point of emphasis to make sure he gets more. I'll take that. He has to play more. He's a good football player, and it is as simple as getting him in the game, and he will be in the game more."

Said Hunter of the commitment from his coach, "I just feel they probably see the hard work I put in on a day-to-day basis. It's hard work, grit, and how much I love the game of football. I just think this is the work ethic that I put in on a day-to-day basis."

Even with a patched offensive line, Hunter, Derrick Brown, and crew could have a strengthened Saints running game to slow down. The team added Audric Estimé ahead of Week 9, and he had 15 rushes for 72 yards and a touchdown in the Saints' Week 9 win, his debut with the club this season.

Travis Etienne Jr., who is on the Saints' injured reserve list, also told New Orleans reporters on Friday that he hopes to play on Sunday.

Stopping Shough

In the first few weeks of the season, Young and the Saints' QB Tyler Shough duked it out as the league's top passer. While Shough has cooled some since then, he's still found ways to be efficient and productive for this Saints' offense.

Through eight games, Shough has gone 204-for-308 for 1,986 yards and 14 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He's averaging 248.3 yards per game through the air, and is also the Saints' leading rusher with 34 carries for 162 yards. He's scored twice on the ground.

Shough has been especially successful on out-breaking routes, but that is an area of strength for the Panthers. He has targeted out-breaking routes on 38.3 percent of his attempts this season, the highest clip among qualified passers, and completed 74.6 percent of those attempts, the eighth-highest among that same group.

The Panthers have allowed a 62.7 percent completion rate on out-breaking targets, the third-lowest among teams, and just one touchdown on those routes, one of only five teams not to allow multiple touchdowns on out-breaking routes this season.

Carolina could also get back pass-rusher Jaelan Phillips back this week. Phillips has missed the last three weeks with a hamstring injury and is officially listed as questionable, but he was a full participant Wednesday and Friday.

"He looks great," said Canales. "He had a great week of practice. He feels confident. He's excited about getting back out there."

One thing Phillips and every Panthers defender has to be aware of is Shough's talent for sliding late into a play, which can then draw roughing the passer calls, as Panthers fans will remember well from last season's Week 15 game in New Orleans, when such a call moved the Saints into game-winning field goal position.

Canales said they discussed it with the defense this week as part of a larger conversation about tackling plans.

"It was just showing film and making sure our guys are aware of that, and that's a really good thing to talk about," shared Canales. "It goes into the tackling plan, where we talk about the different types of players: Alvin Kamara, tackling him versus (receiver DeVaughn) Vele, and just the rest of the group body types, what their moves look like.

"The quarterback going into the defense sliding or getting out of bounds and what the nature of that looks like is something that was talked about."

And stopping speed

The Saints, much like the Panthers, have a trio of pass-catchers made up of two dynamic receivers and a veteran right end. They're led by Chris Olave, who has always given the Panthers headaches.

Olave, who is sixth in the NFL with 734 yards, has been targeted on 47.0 percent of the Saints' total air yards this season, the highest share by a Saints pass catcher since at least 2016 and trailing only Jaxon Smith-Njigba among all pass catchers.

Olave's 14.2 air yards per target against zone coverage ranks fourth among pass catchers with at least 40 zone targets this season, trailing only 2019 Ted Ginn (15.5) and 2023 Rashid Shaheed (14.3) among Saints pass catchers who have reached that threshold since at least 2018.

The Panthers will likely be without Mike Jackson, who participated in his first week of practice this week after a Week 3 injury. He is labeled as doubtful for Sunday. And Will Lee III, who was limited on Friday, is listed as questionable.

But Marco Wilson, Corey Thornton, and Chau Smith-Wade took to Carolina's new aggressive style on defense with ease. It also brought about four defensive pass-interference penalties between Wilson and Thornton, something both guys acknowledged they have to clean up. The aggressive style that fuels their play, though, is something Canales wants to see, especially this week against Olave, Vele, and tight end Juwan Johnson.

"We got another group of fantastic wide receivers. We're going to have to get our hands on them, be physical, be aggressive, attack the ball at the catch," said Canales.

"The small minute tweaks that can happen are body position, hand placement. There can't be a restriction; there has to be — when there's hand fighting, that's one thing, but we have to be cleaner to the ball, and that's about body position and how you play the end of the play.

"But I love the way that the guys were attacking outside. I'm not going to call the dogs off on that. I want them to continue to be aggressive."