The NFL Preseason continues on Saturday night with a prime-time game between the Houston Texans and the Carolina Panthers. The NFL Preseason Houston Texans at Carolina Panthers Start Time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST and it will be televised nationally on the NFL Network. Currently the odds for the game have the Panthers favored by 3 points with the total for the game at 35.5 points.
Cam Newton proved last season he was worthy of the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and that he could lead an NFL franchise. The Panthers went from having the No. 1 overall pick in the draft to winning six games. While that may not seem like a major improvement, the Panthers did score a lot more under Newton. Now it appears that they will have to focus on the defensive side of the ball in order to win more games this season. The Houston Texans were a quarterback injury to Matt Schaub away from potentially playing in the Super Bowl. While that might seem like a bold statement, remember that they were arguably the best team in the NFL while Schaub was under center. The defense was incredible and the offense was able to move the ball consistently.
However, that defense took a major hit this offseason when Mario Williams decided to leave town and head north to play with the Buffalo Bills. It's never good to lose a former No. 1 overall pick in the draft and one of the best defenders in the league. Plus he plays a premium position in defensive end, so he won't be an easy hole to replace.
What's been impressive during the course of this NFL Preseason is the amount of time that main contributing starters are playing. The preseason contests are usually to test depth and to see what kind of backups a team has available. Yet, across the league in the first week of games many starters are playing close to a full quarter. Whether or not we'll see that tonight obviously remains to be seen, but it also appears the starters are getting more snaps. Who knows, maybe we will see Newton and guys like Arian Foster a bit more than expected for the contest.
The point spread has the home team Panthers favored by a field goal. That's probably right about where it should be. The total suggests that both teams might have some trouble scoring in the second half as the backups get into the game, but I still think it's going to be a pretty good contest overall.
Free Pick: We'll take the Panthers in this game laying the field goal. The home teams have gone just 7-5 overall in the first dozen preseason games this week and we're expecting that number to get a little better after tonight's game. Carolina has a lot to work on tonight and this game probably means more to them than it does to Houston.
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