Carolina Panthers
vs.
Seattle Seahawks
By Jason Green
12/4/16
Oh, what a differeNCe a season makes. Last season the Panthers had the best record in the NFC and marched to the Super Bowl. This season they are 3 Games under .500 and unless they win out they will be watching the playoffs from home. They have lost 2 of their last 3 Games and while their offense has been decent their defense is nothing like the great unit it was last season only ranking 24th in the league in opponents’ points allowed.
The Panthers beat the Seahawks twice last season oNCe in the regular season and in the playoffs as well.
The Seahawks are coming off a surprising loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where they only scored 5 points. They have Russell Wilson and he has some solid targets, but the offense is a coNCern and last week in the loss to the Bucs was the 3rd time this season they had failed to Scorea TD. Seattle is still led by their great D, which ranks 1st in the NFL only allowing an average of 17 ppg.
In their last Game the Panthers lost to the Oakland Raiders 35-32, but they did cover as a 3.5-point road underdog.
The Seahawks lost their last Game on the road to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14-5 coming nowhere near covering as a 5-point favorite.
Cam Newton has not had a bad season, but nowhere near the MVP season last year. He passed for 246 yards in the loss to the Raiders with 2 TD and 1 INT and Jonathan Stewart rushed for 96 yards. Newton simply is not making the plays he did with his legs last season and he only has 13 passing TD’s. Stewart has also had a down season and while he had a good Game facing Oakland he has not cracked the 100 yards rushing barrier oNCe this season and as the leader of Carolina on the ground he only has 461 yards through 11 Games.
While the Seahawks are keeping teams out of the end zone they are giving up yards and they rank 10th in the league in pass defense and 13th in run defense.
The Seahawks laid an egg on offense in the loss to Tampa Bay with only 245 total yards and they only had 118 passing yards. However, he did rush for 80 yards and he has had to do most of the work this season on offense, as Seattle only ranks 27th in the league in rushing yards per Game.
Carolina’s defense has taken a big step back from last season and this season they only rank 27th in the league defending the pass, but 2nd defending the run.
Carolina is 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 Games overall, 1-7-1 ATS in their last 9 road Games, and in their last 5 Games on the road the posted total has gone Over 4 times.
Seattle is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 Games following an ATS loss and in their last 6 Games facing a team that has a losing record the posted total has gone Under 5 times.
Bettorsworld Pick – Seattle -7