We have another divisional battle on the NFL Thursday Night Football this week as the strugglers in the NFC South meet in a match neither can afford to lose if they are to keep their seasons alive.
New Orleans Saints take their 4-5 record to the 3-6 Carolina Panthers in a match where defeat will signal the end of anything competitive about their season. As it is the Panthers might need to win out to get anywhere near the playoffs. It is a divisional battle though so that heightens the competitiveness.
Carolina Panthers
After the run to the Super Bowl last season the Panthers were expected to kick on and really dominate both the division and the conference this season but that hasn’t happened at all. They have been found out defensively which is possibly the biggest surprise of all and the physical nature that teams have defended against them with has riled them.
Cam Newton certainly hasn’t been the same player he was last season. He suffered an injury half way through the campaign and although he is back now we’ve only really seem glimpses of his very best form. He needs to deliver and some of his offensive weapons need to do their bit too.
New Orleans Saints
This has been a season of frustration for the Saints. They have lost five matches on the season but only three of them have been by more than a field goal and they have found a way to lose at times just like last week when a game winning conversion was blocked and taken back to their own end zone and that was that.
Nevertheless they can take plenty of positives from how they came so close to beating a Denver Broncos side with their elite defence and the fact that Drew Brees and his exciting young core of receivers dominated their opposition at times will bode well for them here so it isn’t all doom and gloom for the Saints.
Betting
I look at this and I fully expect it to be a shootout. The Saints have already beaten Carolina 41-38 this season and while it might not get to those heights in terms of scoring I do believe it will be a high scoring match with tons of yardage on both sides.
The Saints have the worst passing defence in the league while Carolina are ranked 25th so there is going to be a lot of passing yards in this match and as long as there are no crucial turnovers at the wrong end of the field I expect more than 52pts here.
I’m also going to take a couple of player markets here too. I don’t need to explain them too much more. I just see this as a passing feast. Drew Brees has already torched this defence for 465 yards this season so another 304.5 is well within him. In that match Greg Olsen caught for 94 yards so his receiving line of 64.5 yards looks low too.
Tips
Back Over 51.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back D.Brees Over 304.5 passing yards for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back G.Olsen Over 64.5 receiving yards for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
