CHARLOTTE -- If the Carolina Panthers win Sunday at New Orleans, they'll accomplish something no other NFC South team has done this season -- beat a division rival on the road.
Home teams are 11-0 in NFC South games this season, with only the Panthers-Saints matchup remaining.
"We'd love to buck that trend," Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "It'll be tough."
The Panthers have a lot at stake Sunday. With a win, they can clinch the NFC South championship, the No. 2 NFC seed in the playoffs and a first-round bye followed by a second-round game at home.
But if the Panthers lose, they would need the Atlanta Falcons to lose at home to the 2-13 St. Louis Rams to avoid slipping to the No. 5 seed, making them a wild-card team and requiring a first-round game against the Cardinals at Arizona.
Carolina is 6-0 on the road against the Saints since John Fox became the Panthers' coach in 2002, but to continue that streak, they'll have to break a nearly historical stronghold.
Since the NFL was divided into eight divisions of four teams each in 2002, there hasn't been a season in which either the home teams didn't lose a division game or in which all members of a division went 3-3 against one another.
"It's highly unusual," Fox said.
Delhomme attributes it to the overall quality and depth of the division.
"I really think every team is pretty good," he said. "It's a true home-field advantage."
The NFC South is one of only two divisions, along with the NFC East, in which each of the four teams has a winning record.
That's in stark contrast to the AFC West and NFC West. Only one team in each of those divisions has a record above .500, and the 8-7 records of the first-place teams -- Arizona and the Denver Broncos -- is the same as the last-place team in the NFC South, New Orleans.
NFC South teams have been good at home even outside of division game. They're a combined 26-3 at their stadium and none of the teams have lost more than once at home.
The Saints are 6-1 at the Superdome, with their only loss coming 30-28 to the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 6.
Despite the quality of the competition in the NFC South, most divisional games haven't been close. The average margin is 12.4 points. Seven of the 11 games have been decided by 14 points or more.
The Saints are the only team without a home win by a double-digit margin. They defeated Atlanta and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by four points apiece.
