The Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints battle for the top spot in the NFC South tonight on Sunday Night Football. The game is scheduled for an 8:25 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on NBC. Currently the odds for the game have the Saints as small favorites in this one.
New Orleans hears the Carolina Panthers coming after them in the divisional race. Both teams are 9-3 and this battle for first place tonight should be a good one to watch. Cam Newton and the Panthers are red hot and have taken the next step in becoming one of the premier teams in the NFL. Now they have to hit the road and take on one of the best home teams in all the league tonight.
The Saints played and got hammered by Seattle on Monday night. It certainly doesn't help that they have to play on a short week heading into this game, where they'll also take on a physical team in the Panthers. But when the Saints are at home, they flat out win games — taking all six in the Superdome so far this season. They cover, too, claiming 17 of their last 19 games against the spread when playing in New Orleans.
Carolina comes in with eight straight wins to their credit, covering seven of those eight. Newton has been on fire during that stretch with 18 touchdown passes and throwing for better than 1,700 yards. A lot of people are not buying into the winning streak for Carolina, however, as six of the teams they beat had a losing record on the season. Still, you have to beat the teams that are on your schedule. And shouldn't good teams beat teams with losing records anyway?
This is the first of two matchups between these clubs this year. Carolina's defense hasn't allowed a team to score 21 points in awhile (Arizona, week 5), and they will have a hard time doing that tonight. New Orleans beats team by an average of 33-16 when playing in the Superdome this season.
The Panthers are Ron Rivera are tough on the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. The Panthers love to run the football and eat up a bunch of clock. If New Orleans doesn't have the ball enough, how are they going to score a lot of points? Drew Brees and the boys will obviously get points up, but we think this game is going to be a lot closer than people think.
Free Pick: New Orleans 28, Carolina 27
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