The Carolina Panthers weren’t ready for what was in store for them here in Week 10.

Instead of taking care of business with the 1-8 New Orleans Saints in town, they faltered—falling flat in a disappointing 17-7 defeat on Sunday. The loss moved the Panthers, the clear favorites heading into this NFC South showdown, to an even 5-5 on the campaign.

Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, after the game, attributed the embarrassing showing to a lack of preparation leading up to the contest.

“We just weren’t locked into the small details,” Ekwonu stated, via Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer. “And you know, a couple guys spoke about it. Coach [Dave Canales] spoke about it throughout the week.

“And you can’t get days back. You know, if you have a tough day on Thursday, tough day on Friday, or whatever, you can always look forward. But you can’t get that day back.

“So that preparation, or lack thereof, is going to add up. And unfortunately, that just cultivated to what we saw today.”

What we saw was a relatively comfortable victory for a team that had only one of them coming in. New Orleans, behind the second start of rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, amassed 388 total yards—a new season-high.

Carolina meanwhile, mustered up all of 175 yards and turned the ball over twice. They also converted on just three of their nine third-down attempts.

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 28-23 loss to the New England Patriots this afternoon, the Panthers could’ve moved just half a game back from the division lead had they followed through. But it was evident that they weren’t quite equipped for that.

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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers LT Ikem Ekwonu points to lack of preparation for Week 10 loss