Will the Saints hold on to the Bucs?

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there is once again a heavy favourite in the NFC South this season. After only two days of play, it is already clear that the franchise around quarterback Tom Brady should, under normal circumstances, be the division winner. The other three teams from Carolina, New Orleans and Atlanta have not been convincing at all so far.

On Sunday evening, two division rivals will face each other in a direct duel in week three. At the Bank of America Stadium it comes to the game of the Carolina Panthers against the New Orleans Saints. According to the odds, the visitors have a slightly better chance of winning. For that to happen, however, they will need a clear improvement from Jameis Winston, who threw three interceptions in last week’s loss to the Bucs, ruining a better result.

While NO already has one win under their belt, the Panthers are still waiting for their first full win. Head coach Matt Rhule’s team lost against both the Giants and the Browns and has not yet been able to get the prominent offensive line going. In general, both teams have had trouble moving the ball down the field. Between the Panthers and the Saints, a prediction on a rather low number of points therefore seems quite interesting.

Carolina Panthers – Statistics & current form

There’s no other way to put it, but the Panthers have disappointed across the board in the first two weeks. Actually, fans were in good spirits after the off-season to have a positive record after the regular season for the first time since 2017. But after two defeats in the first two matches, this dream bubble seems to have vanished into thin air early on.

No wonder, because quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was brought in from Cleveland, has so far not managed to stabilise the offence. While he at least completed 16 passes for 235 yards in the opener, but also threw an interception, only 14 of 29 passes found their target in the embarrassing 16:19 loss to the Giants the previous week. With a total quarterback rating of 23.7, the 27-year-old is statistically the weakest playmaker in the 32-team NFL.

The Panthers are more likely to come through their defence

It would actually be all the more important for Christian McCaffrey, who has returned from injury, to take on more responsibility. But the running back doesn’t seem to have found his top form yet either, although much can also be attributed to the weak O-Line.

The Pro Bowler has only scored one touchdown so far. Against the Browns, “MCC” ran for a meagre 33 yards, against the Panthers he tripled his output to over 100 yards. In the passing game, however, the 26-year-old has hardly been an option so far. That should change if a bet on the home team is to pay off between the Panthers and the Saints. If McCaffrey even scores the first TD of the game, the odds are high at 6.50.

With the offensive line struggling and top receiver DJ Moore facing the visitors’ best cornerback Marshon Lattimore, a good defensive performance is needed to raise hopes of a good result. At least there, however, improvement has been in sight lately. Led by defensive end Brian Burns, the Panthers defence managed three sacks and nine QB hurries against Daniel Jones of the Giants. If head coach Matt Rhule’s team also presses Jameis Winston this well in the pass rush, odds of 40 points or less should be a good betting option in the Panthers’ clash against the Saints.

Projected Carolina Panthers lineup:
QB: Baker Mayfield
RB: Christian McCaffrey
WR: Robby Anderson
WR: DJ Moore
TE: Ian Thomas
K: Eddy Pineiro

New Orleans Saints – stats & current form

While we’ve been critical of Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield, we have to do the same with the New Orleans Saints. Last week, their playmaker Jameis Winston was primarily responsible for hailing an unnecessary 10-20 loss against a far from overmatched Bucs.

Winston completed only 25 of 40 passes and threw three interceptions. The former Heisman Trophy winner is just above Mayfield in the QB Rating Rankings for the best college player in the NCAAF – 30th out of 32nd. The discussions about the open succession to the throne of Drew Brees are certainly not over.

Will ease return with Kamara?

Despite this, we expect the 28-year-old, who is also likely to hand a snap or two back to Taysom Hill, to put in a better performance on the turf on Sunday night. We base this on the fact that Alvin Kamara, the starting running back, will most likely return to the team after injury.

With the number 41, there are completely different options on the offensive side, as he has extreme qualities as a rusher as well as a receiver. The offensive game is much harder to calculate with him and his backup Marc Ingram. Consequently, we prefer a forecast on the guest between the Panthers and the Saints.

This is also supported by the fact that NO has already won one game this season. At the beginning of the season, the Falcons were defeated 27:26 after a remarkable comeback. The last quarter went 17-3 to the Saints, who should have an advantage over the Panthers especially in the receiver cast. Rookie Chris Olave has established himself as one of Winston’s favourite pass receivers right from the start of his NFL career. Add to that Jarvis Landry and Michael Thomas, two NFL-calibre receivers. So there’s plenty of work waiting for Carolina’s secondary, especially considering Winston likes to get deep.

Projected New Orleans Saints lineup:
QB: Jameis Winston
RB: Alvin Kamara
WR: Michael Thomas
WR: Jarvis Landry
TE: Juwan Johnson
K: Wil Lutz

Carolina Panthers – New Orleans Saints Head-to-head comparison / H2H record

Because this is a divisional duel between the Panthers and the Saints, this matchup occurs twice in each regular season. In the preseason, both teams won once each. Prior to that, however, the Saints had won four in a row, which means that the pointer tends to point in the direction of New Orleans. It is also worth mentioning that the 41-point mark has never been broken in the last three meetings. We expect a sub-par match on Sunday night as well.

Carolina Panthers – New Orleans Saints Tip

Traditionally, things will get heated between the Panthers and the Saints in the NFC South. Divisional duels are often characterised by hard hits and close games. There is no reason to believe in offensive fireworks either, especially since neither quarterback has been able to put much together so far this season. Mayfield is ranked 32nd in the QB rankings, Winston two places above him in 30th.

So presumably other protagonists will have to do the job. The Panthers have Christian McCaffrey at running back, while the Saints will put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the returning Alvin Kamara. At the same time, NO still has a receiver cast that is strong up front and across the board, which will make things a little easier for Winston. We therefore see slight advantages for Dennis Allen’s team. Similar, by the way, to the bookmakers, who are offering slightly lower betting odds on the visitors to win between the Panthers and the Saints.

Our first approach is also to tip on the away win in the clash between the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints.

Alternatively, it is conceivable to bet that a maximum of 40 points will be scored. Those who want to take more risk could bet on Christian McCaffrey scoring the first touchdown of the game. In the event of success, more than six times the stake is paid out here.