Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers travel to Tampa Bay
where they’ll be 6.5 point favorites in their first divisional matchup.
By: MaChez, TSZ Expert
Another Thursday, another so-so matchup. This week we have the pleasure of watching
the definition-of-disappointment Tampa Bay Bucs face the
things-are-finally-going-in-the-right-direction-but-how-long-can-it-actually-last-with-Ron-Rivera-and-Cam-Newton
Carolina Panthers. The Bucs, like only
the Jaguars, have yet to win a game, have traded away their franchise
quarterback, and just lost their star running back to a potentially
season-ending torn labrum. The Panthers
on the other hand, have won two straight in considerable fashion (albeit
against the Vikings and Rams) after starting the season 1-3 and have some
people believing that they finally could be competitive.
The Spread
Due to the two teams’ current situations, Vegas has given
Tampa Bay 6.5 points as home underdogs with the total sitting around 40. This will be Carolina’s first divisional
matchup but Tampa is already 0-2 inside the NFC South with losses to the Saints
and Falcons. While Tampa could already
be officially eliminated from the playoffs in just three weeks, the Panthers
are only two games out of first with two games left against the first-place New
Orleans Saints.
Carolina Panthers
Up until two weeks ago this season had the makings of what
one has come to expect from a Ron Rivera led team. After demolishing the Giants 38-0 and coming
off a bye, the Panthers looked flat in a 6-22 loss to the Cardinals that put
them at 1-3. But then, things started clicking,
Cam Newton started completing 80% of his passes, and the Panthers rattled off
two wins by an average of 20 points.
Those two wins were against some struggling teams, but Carolina can
expect much of the same this week.
Although Cam Newton has been playing well, it’s actually the
defense that has been winning games for the Panthers. Ranked third in yards allowed per game
(302.2) and second in points allowed per game (13.6) the defense is quietly
shutting teams down. That being said,
they have had the benefit of an easy schedule with their last four matchups
coming against teams with a bottom-ten offense.
They’ve only given up 7.75 points per game during that stretch, and
should have an easy time repeating that performance this week.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Over the past seven weeks, head coach Greg Schiano has quite
easily weaseled his way up to the #1 spot in the “coach most likely to be fired
mid-season” competition. And that’s
about all he has going for him. Somehow
he managed to take a team loaded with talent and turn them all against him to
the point that not a single player has publicly come to his support. To the outside eye he seems like the last
person you would ever want to work or play for.
There’s no way he lasts in to next year, even if they win ten straight.
Along with the terrible coaching, there’s not much else
going well for the Bucs right now. In
what has to be the most frustrating season ever for Tampa fans, the team is
losing by an average of less than eight points and three of their losses have
come on last second field goals. The
coaching staff is misusing $15 million Darrelle Revis and the entire defense to
the point that fans are legitimately offering to gameplan the D. And to top it all off, other teams are
hiring hazmat crews to clean the visiting locker room after the Bucs visit to
prevent any of their losing spirit from infesting the stadium.
Prediction
With the Bucs playing at home as underdogs of 6.5 points,
they’re very tempting to take since they lose by three or less points half the
time. That being said, with the injury
to Martin and everything else going wrong in Tampa right now, I see the
Panthers barely covering. Cam Newton is
playing very efficiently right now and Carolina’s D will keep any chance of
offense from Tampa in check. 23-13
Carolina.
Carolina Panthers (-6.5) over TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
UNDER 40
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