The New Orleans Saints appeared to get right last week as they thrashed the visiting Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football. The road has not been nearly as kind for these Saints and they find themselves packing their suitcases tonight as they travel to Charlotte for a game with the Carolina Panthers. While we will readily admit that Carolina has been disappointing this season, this would seem to be a pretty good spot for Cam Newton and his Panthers. The Saints are 0-4 on the road this season, lost seven straight regular-season road games and frankly, haven’t looked good in those games. The trends are really against the Saints here as they are 0-7 ATS as a road favorite over the last two seasons and Carolina has feasted on weak defensive teams. The Panthers are 13-4 ATS against bad defensive teams (teams that allow 6 yards per play or more) in their last 17 tries. The Carolina defense, which has been the foundation of their success, has been terrible this season, although they did see some significant improvement last week in their heartbreaking loss to Seattle. Their offense seems to be getting healthy again as DeAngelo Williams comes back tonight and Newton seems to be building a better rapport with rookie WR Kelvin Benjamin. Newton has enjoyed some pretty good success against these Saints and actually has six rushing touchdowns against the Saints in six career games. The Saints have allowed almost 32 ppg on the road this season and we would take a look at the Over (although we aren’t playing it), but we think the Panthers play well under the lights. We are giving this one out at Panthers +3, but we HIGHLY SUGGEST you buy the hook if you have the ability. This feels like a close game, kind of a shootout, and possibly a game where the last team with the ball wins. We like the points with the home team, backs to the wall, against a team that has clear issues on the road. The Sharps say…
2 UNITS – CAROLINA PANTHERS (+3)