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New Orleans (-2.0) versus Carolina
The Panthers made plenty of mistakes in their 17-37 loss to Tennessee last week and they were out-played on special teams, which is very rare. Carolina is not that good from the line of scrimmage, but they have had the best special teams in the league the last 2 years and have another huge advantage in that area in this game. However, New Orleans has the advantage from the line of scrimmage and the Saints qualify in a 104-49-8 ATS home momentum situation and are certainly playing with more precision lately. New Orleans has been average offensively this season, averaging 5.5 yards per play against a schedule of teams that combine to allow 5.5 yppl on defense, and that unit should perform adequately in this game against a Panthers’ stop unit that’s given up 5.4 yppl to teams that average a combined 5.4 yppl on offense for the season. Carolina’s offense has performed below par this season, averaging 5.1 yppl with quarterback Jake Delhomme in the game (against teams that allow 5.4 yppl on defense), and doesn’t figure to be that good today against a solid Saints’ defense that has allowed 5.1 yppl to teams that average 5.2 yppl on offense. Overall, because of the Panthers’ special teams advantage, I favor the visitor by ½ a point, but the situation favoring New Orleans is enough to put me on their side in this game.
I like Carolina in the upset. Carolina by 6
The Panthers made plenty of mistakes in their 17-37 loss to Tennessee last week and they were out-played on special teams, which is very rare. Carolina is not that good from the line of scrimmage, but they have had the best special teams in the league the last 2 years and have another huge advantage in that area in this game. However, New Orleans has the advantage from the line of scrimmage and the Saints qualify in a 104-49-8 ATS home momentum situation and are certainly playing with more precision lately. New Orleans has been average offensively this season, averaging 5.5 yards per play against a schedule of teams that combine to allow 5.5 yppl on defense, and that unit should perform adequately in this game against a Panthers’ stop unit that’s given up 5.4 yppl to teams that average a combined 5.4 yppl on offense for the season. Carolina’s offense has performed below par this season, averaging 5.1 yppl with quarterback Jake Delhomme in the game (against teams that allow 5.4 yppl on defense), and doesn’t figure to be that good today against a solid Saints’ defense that has allowed 5.1 yppl to teams that average 5.2 yppl on offense. Overall, because of the Panthers’ special teams advantage, I favor the visitor by ½ a point, but the situation favoring New Orleans is enough to put me on their side in this game.
I like Carolina in the upset. Carolina by 6