The listless Carolina Panthers, with nothing left to play for over the season’s final weeks, travel to New Orleans to face a Saints team needing to win to keep pace in the NFC South.
Week 2 of the 2023 season was three months ago, and in the three months since, we’ve learned a lot about both teams since their Week 2 Monday Night contest. That evening, the Saints escaped Bank of America Stadium with the 20-17 win. We have since seen the Saints fail to live up to expectations of potentially running away with the division, and we have also seen Bryce Young continue to struggle amidst Frank Reich‘s eventual firing after Week 12.
Carolina became the first team to become mathematically eliminated from postseason contention last weekend, which some may find shocking knowing that the Panthers were in the hunt for the division crown all the way into January last season before they lost Week 17 to Tampa, which ended their playoff hopes. Nonetheless, individual players on the team still have plenty to play for in the final weeks, including Adam Thielen needing 65 yards in this game to become the sixth undrafted player (in the Super Bowl era) to have recorded 7500 career receiving yards.
The Saints have been an up-and-down team all season, and to overcome the inconsistencies, they have to look to Derek Carr, who should be on track to play Sunday after having been in concussion protocol for most of this week. Should he not be able to go, the Saints would need to turn to Jameis Winston, who threw for 350 yards in his last outing against the Panthers in Week 3 of last season.
2022 first-rounder Chris Olave looks to push his ongoing streak of games against the Panthers with five catches and 60+ yards receiving to the fourth of four games he has played against the Panthers in his young career.
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Game Info
Date: Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023
Start time: 12:00 p.m. CT
Location: New Orleans, La.
Stadium: Caesars Superdome
TV Info: CBS, NFL+, Sunday Ticket
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of DraftKings.
Point Spread: CAR +5 (-110), NO -5 (-110)
Moneyline: CAR (+190), NO (-230)
Over/Under: O/U 37.5 (-112)
The Saints open as five-point favorites. Given Carolina’s record this season, this game is the Saints to lose. It will possibly be close for the over/under, seeing as in their match earlier this season, they had 37 total points.
What To Watch For
Despite having little to play for in the season’s final five weeks, including a draft position as their top pick next year is owned by the Bears, the Panthers can still play spoiler in several of their remaining contests, starting with this game against the Saints. To do so, however, Bryce Young will have to put together a game that resembles his best performances from his days at Alabama amidst what needs to be a complete team performance, something the Panthers have failed to do for the most part this year.
The Saints need Carr to be playing at his best to win this game and to put their own complete game together, especially with two of their remaining five contests coming against the other teams in the NFC South race (at Tampa vs. Atlanta) still to come before this season comes to a close.
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