The expectation is that wide receiver Devin Funchess will be moving on from Carolina this offseason and the parting got off to an early start on Sunday.Funchess is a healthy scratch for the Panthers for their Week 17 matchup against the Saints. It’s the second game he’ll miss this season and the third he’ll miss since being drafted in the second round of the 2015 draft.Funchess had already seen his playing time drop as the Panthers’ season swirled down the drain. He’ll move into the offseason with 161 catches for 2 Marquis Haynes Jersey ,233 yards and 21 touchdowns.The Panthers will be giving undrafted rookie Kyle Allen his first NFL start on Sunday. Curtis Samuel, D.J. Moore, Jarius Wright, Torrey Smith and Mose Frazier will be his targets at wideout.Saints head coach Sean Payton announced on Friday that Teddy Bridgewater would start at quarterback. Drew Brees is joined on the inactive list by running back Alvin Kamara as the Saints move toward the postseason. ATLANTA (AP) — Pepsi is pouring it on in Coke’s house — injecting some fizz into its biggest rivalry during the buildup to the Super Bowl.While the visitors had called for a “cola truce” on social media with the NFL title game in the shadows of its competitor’s Atlanta-based headquarters, it seems to have been more of a Trojan Horse subterfuge designed to lure Coke into lowering its defenses.Billboards all around Atlanta call for Pepsi to “paint the town blue” and announce “Pepsi in Atlanta — how refreshing.”“I’d say Pepsi’s had a great heritage of being a challenger brand,” Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s vice president of marketing, said Thursday. “The Pepsi-Coke rivalry has been going on for years. As a marketer https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com … ith-Jersey , it’s been a fun, friendly kind of a thing. As a challenger brand, it’s really embracing the role to show everybody we’re the official NFL sponsor. Do it in a fun way with a competitor that we respect.”But while Pepsi has been intent on having fun at Coke’s expense, Coke will be tapping into its home-field advantage: Because it owns the “pouring rights” at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Coke products will be for sale at the fountains during the game between the Patriots and Rams. But the drinks will be served in NFL-themed Super Bowl cups.That hasn’t deterred Pepsi. The company, based in Purchase, New York, wheeled a life-sized statue of its founder Dontari Poe Color Rush Jersey , Caleb Bradham, in broad daylight to toast a soda with none other than the statue of Coca-Cola founder John Pemberton. The meeting came just outside the World of Coke museum in downtown Atlanta.And it didn’t last long.Pepsi was asked to leave a few minutes after setting up on the Coke property that’s located just a couple of blocks from the stadium.But Coke believes it has home-field advantage and has gone out of its way to stay above the fray.“I think certainly they came and they used Atlanta as an opportunity to have an Atlanta-focused message, and what I would say is that we have a message that is uniquely Coca-Cola,” said Brynn Bardacke, vice president of content and creative excellence for Coca-Cola North America. “I think we’re going to leave the rumbling to the football.“We’re going to use our advertising to talk about what’s important to the brand.”The latest chapter in the decades-long rivalry between Coke, the longtime leader in worldwide soda sales, and its not-quite-as-massive rival has been entertaining.Ask almost anyone around Atlanta — anywhere, really — and they have very strong opinions about the soda giants.Mark Meek Jarius Wright Jersey , a Carolina Panthers fan from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, wasted no time choosing a side.“I like being the little guy, fighting for his place in the world,” he said. “I like it because it’s from my home state and we’ve got a little rivalry thing going with Georgia anyway. I like Lowe’s more than Home Depot. I like Pepsi more than I like Coke. I like the Panthers more than I like the Falcons. I like Bojangles more than I like Chick-Fil-A.”His friend Keith Priest, also Panthers fan from Winston-Salem, is a Coke man all the way.“Pepsi’s too sweet, way too sweet https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com … rcy-Jersey ,” he said. “The carbonation seems better in a Coke. Every now and then I’ll get Cherry Coke, but other than that, it’s always just Coke.”Lest anyone forget that, Coke has bought the time slot right before the national anthem to roll out its big Super Bowl ad, “A Coke is a Coke,” a strategic move it would’ve made regardless of Pepsi being in his hometown.“Well, we are here to welcome everybody to the city, Pepsi included Greg Van Roten Color Rush Jersey ,” Bardacke said. “Our effort is really focused on what our brand is and means to people and really what we offer. The message at a high level is that Coke is for everyone.”Maybe so, but not for Kaplan. Pepsi knows where it stands in pecking order, and has launched a marketing campaign that Pepsi is “more than OK.”“Every day there’s a cultural truth that people get asked this question when they’re in a restaurant.” Kaplan said. “Sometimes they will order our competitor’s beverage and they’ll be asked the question, ‘Is Pepsi OK?’ That’s a question that, for years, people get asked, and we wanted to take that truth and flip it on its head. Absolutely, Pepsi is more than OK.”But not for Atlanta resident Jack Jessen.“You’ve got to go with the hometown teams https://www.carolinapanthersfanshop.com ,” he said. “Coke and Falcons.”For Houston resident Zephra Belle, there’s no way she’s drinking Coke.“I’m Team Pepsi all the way,” she said. “It’s sweeter. It makes me feel better. I haven’t adjusted to Coke. I don’t understand the Coke people.”