Live: Saints take on Panthers in the NFC South opener for both teams

The New Orleans Saints travel to take on the Carolina Panthers at 6:15 p.m. on Monday as the first game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.

The Saints are looking to move to 1-0 following a win in the season opener over the Tennessee Titans. The Panthers are seeking their first victory after dropping a 24-10 game at Atlanta last week.

Panthers starting quarterback Bryce Young struggled in his debut as the starting quarterback, and an experienced Saints defense will be looking to put plenty of pressure on the Alabama product.

The second game of the MNF doubleheader is Browns-Steelers, which kicks off at 7:15 p.m. on ABC.

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UPDATED, 6:29 p.m.: Lou Hedley with a half-shank on that kick. It only goes 29 yards before sailing out of bounds, so the Panthers have good field position at their 35. Now the Bryce Young show — which, the Saints hope, will be a flop in its Charlotte debut.

Sure enough, Young is leveled on his first attempt by Nathan Shepherd, and the ball flies into open space. I guess it wasn’t intentional grounding simply because of the hit — no idea to tell where Young was throwing. Carolina’s second play is much more effective, a 13-yard run from Miles Sanders over left tackle and a first down.

Next series, a slip screen to Thielen gets 6 on third-and-3, and the Panthers are inching into field goal range. We saw our first Isaiah Foskey appearance on that series as well.

Cam Jordan is getting in the backfield on just about every play. Young has run for his life twice, and now it’s third-and-long. Zone defense, and Thielen has another catch for 10 yards, but well shy of the first down.

It’s fourth down, and the field goal unit is out. Eddy Pineiro is out for a 52-yard attempt, and it’s good. Saints defense still hasn’t given up a touchdown this year, but for the second straight week, they’re down 3-0.

UPDATED, 6:19 p.m.: Saints are already off to a better start than last week, when they fumbled away the opening kickoff. This one is a touchback, and two Jamaal Williams runs will set up a manageable third-and-2 on the opening series. Derek Carr throws it a bit behind Michael Thomas, but he makes a great snag for 7 yards and a first down.

Already a Taysom Hill sighting at quarterback, but all he’s doing is handing off to Williams, who gets 4 more. Carr bypasses a wide-open Williams on second down and instead bounces one to Chris Olave. On third down, the Panthers get to Carr for a sack, and the drive stalls. Frankie Luvu got Carr after Brian Burns had initial pressure.

UPDATED, 6:14 p.m.: They’ve finally unfurled the giant American flag — and it’s literally 100 yards long, stretched from goal line to goal line. Pretty amazing production.

Former Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly is here to bang the drum, which I guess you’d call the closest thing Carolina has to a Who Dat chant.

Meanwhile, the captains are at midfield for the coin toss. Saints call tails, and the coin lands heads. Carolina defers, so Derek Carr and the New Orleans offense will start this one with the ball. 

UPDATED, 6:09 p.m.: The Saints have just run out onto the field to a chorus of boos, although again, there aren’t nearly as many people in their seats yet as you’d think, with kickoff just 10 minutes away.

Now it’s time for the Panthers intro, complete with video board hype video and individual announcements of starters. Bryce Young, of course, gets by far the biggest cheer as he runs out of the inflatable Panther last.

Almost time for the coin toss and Game No. 2.

UPDATED, 6:00 p.m.: The Panthers are putting on quite a production here for their home opener, with a giant — and I mean like 75 yards giant — American flag that they’re waiting to unfurl while they have some parachuters land in the stadium.

Thing is, we’re down to about 15 minutes before kickoffs, and the stadium is still less than half full. Could be a late-arriving crowd for an early Monday game, of course, but it still seems less than enthusiastic for a team debuting its No. 1 draft pick, doesn’t it?

UPDATED, 5:14 p.m.: We’re about an hour away from Saints vs. Panthers on Monday Night Football. I’m Saints Editor Zach Ewing, and I’d like to welcome you to our live updates page, where I’ll post my thoughts during the game, as well as social media posts from our staff, the Saints and others of interest.

The teams have listed their inactives for this game, and the only mild surprise for the Saints is that defensive end Kyle Phillips is inactive. We had thought maybe he’d be elevated with the injury suffered by Payton Turner in last week’s win over the Titans. Instead, it’s rookie defensive end Isaiah Foskey who is active and figures to get some snaps in place of Turner.

Kendre Miller is also inactive, still dealing with a hamstring injury, so Tony Jones Jr. will be the No. 2 running back behind Jamaal Williams.

The Saints other inactives are wide receivers Lynn Bowden and A.T. Perry, running back Kirk Merritt and offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri.

The other Saints inactives are Lynn Bowden, A.T. Perry, Kendre Miller