Thursday Night Football offers a lot of great betting opportunities. So far this season Sports Information Traders Syndicate Plays are 5-2 against the spread in games that we have given out. This week Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints visit the NFC south rival Carolina Panthers. Most expected these to be the top two teams in the NFC but rather they are the ones with the worst records and shocking many with sub .500 winning records. Last weeks loss for the Saints was painful but close calls don’t help or count in sports betting or the NFL.
Saints at 4-5 and Panthers at 3-6 will be able to kiss their playoff chances all but goodbye if they lose this game. With the Falcons at 6-4 leading the NFC South and tough home games playing the Arizona Cardinals and the Kansas City Chiefs coming up will start to pull away from one of these teams with two at home wins following their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at home last weekend. The Falcons will face off against the Panthers in Week 16 and then head back home to play the Saints in the final NFL regular season game under the Georgia dome. With a lead in the tie breaker over these two teams and a small chance that the struggling Tampa Bay Bucs at 4-5 can also win their division I wouldn’t bet on any NFC South team going deep into the playoffs.
The Silver lining for the defending NFC Champions are that they can turn it around mid season after starting 3-6 as four teams have gone onto make the playoffs since 1990. These teams are the 2012 Washington Redskins (who lost), 1996 Jacksonville Jaguars, 1995 Detroit Lions, and the 1994 New England Patriots. Bad news is that no team went any further and the Panthers won’t be making the playoffs this season since they have to go on the road to play red hot Oakland Raiders and the on and off again Seattle Seahawks.
New Orleans Saints vs Carolina Panthers Betting odds & Stats
Currently the Panthers are a 3 point favorite (-125) with an over/under of 52 points. If you bet moneyline then the Carolina Panthers are currently -175 and the New Orleans Saints are +155. If you play alternate lines and second half bets then there are some opportunities here. The Panthers are -4 points (+108), -3.5 (+100) and -2.5 (-150). The New Orleans Saints are 6-3 against the spread and undefeated on the road this season out of 4 games. 5-4 over / under and have split on the road this year for totals. The Carolina Panthers are 2-6-1 against the spread and 2-3 when playing at home. 5-4 with over unders and 2-3 at home.
The New Orleans Saints are 6-1 against the spread in their last 7 games when playing NFC South opponents. 6-2 against the spread in their last 7 games after a loss and have covered 3 of their last 16 in the month of November. The Carolina Panthers are 2-5 against the spread in their last 7 Thursday Night Games and 4-1-1 in the past 6 in the month of November. Calculating totals and bets on this game is interesting because the Saints are a perfect 8-9 when playing teams with a losing record. The over has hit 17 out of 23 times when Carolina is playing another NFC team. The over is 4-0 in their last 4 match ups and the Saints are an impressive 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 match ups.
New Orleans Saints Carolina Panthers Pick Against the Spread
The Saints are a 2.5 point underdog at home coming off its bye in week 6 byt beat out the Carolina Panthers on a 52 yard field goal at the end of the game. Drew Brees had an impressive 4 touchdown day and over 450 passing yars. Cam also had a strong day going for 322 yard and 2 touchdowns. They tied it up late in the game with a 2 yard touchdown run and another successful 2 point conversion. The Saints got hit with a pass interference call at the goal line and the Panthers cashed in all 3 times with touchdowns to make this a game.
The line will move in this game and the pick you want to be on is the total. As of now we like the under but things do change so check with your personal analyst at Sports Information Traders to get your plays for the week.
Last Weeks Betting Mistakes and the Uncertainty of NFC Betting
Last Sunday in New Orleans we saw something special. The new rule changes consist of a 33 yard point after touchdown and teams can now return a blocked or missed kick for 2 points. With the Denver Broncos tied up with “Who Dat” at 23 points following a Drew Brees pass to Brandin Cooks for 32 years with only 1 minute and 22 seconds to go. Denver had a very special play call holding down the Center and a big leap without touching the offensive lineman and Justin Simmons leaped up and blocked the kick and then Will Parks, ran it back 84 yards for 2 points and the win. After this an onside kick recovery and it was the 1st time ever that the winning points in a game came as a result of the new PAT rule.
Drew Brees also had another fantastic performance >300 passing yards and 3 Touchdowns but let us not mention the two interceptions he threw. He surpassed the 450 TD club joining the great Brett Favre with 508 touchdowns in his career and Peyton Manning with 539. Saints Defense was strong despite their Sunday loss holding the defending Super Bowl champions to 103 yards and 37 rushing attempts with 6 sacks but fumbled the ball 4 times so it was a sloppy game with 6 turnovers.
The Panthers lost after dominating the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half but the end of the game and final score is what matters most. Ending the first half 17-3 and a 3rd quarter shutout the game looked over. Eric Berry hit a 42 yard interception off of Cam Newton and a 33 yard field goal with less than 5 minutes to go. With a chance to go into overtime the Panthers head coach Ron Rivera went for the gamble to go for it. 30 seconds to go and the ball at their own 20 yard line. Kansas City stripped the ball thanks to Pro Bowl Cornerback Marcus Peters and with 37 yards out and no time left the Chiefs nailed it to win after being down by 17 points for the second time this season they made that hot comeback.
So this loss burned for the Panthers and this loss burned for the Saints. Flash Cam had a mediocre game with 261 passing yards and a single touchdown. The end of game fail was devastating and a sign of their 2016 NFL season. On a bright note he did surpass the 20,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in his first 6 season in the NFL surpassing Michael Vicks numbers.
