Panthers vs. Saints Odds, Betting Lines, Picks & Preview for NFL Week 17 on FanDuel Sportsbook

This weekend, the Carolina Panthers will travel to Caesars Superdome to take on their division rival, New Orleans Saints.

Carolina has some key names listed on the reserve/COVID list in Shaq Thompson, Brian Burns, and Haason Reddick. Stephon Gilmore is the most notable name on the injury report. He missed Wednesday’s practice. New Orleans also has some important players on the reserve/COVID list in Ryan Ramczyk, Wil Lutz, and Marcus Williams. The most notable name on the injury report is Terron Armstead, who was a surprise inactive on Monday night. 

Carolina decided to go all in this season but failed miserably despite several high-profile additions. The defense seems to have the pieces to compete, but the Panthers have lost five in a row without an answer at quarterback and with Christian McCaffrey finding a new home on the sidelines.

New Orleans has also struggled mightily this season. They have some marquee wins but have not been able to get it going on offense enough to take advantage of one of the stronger defenses in the league. Losing Jameis Winston was a tough loss compounded by the season-long absence of superstar receiver Michael Thomas. They will get back to .500 with a win over the Panthers but will still face an uphill battle to make the postseason due to tie-break scenarios. 

The spread for this contest has held steady at -6.5 all week. Fifty-three percent of the public action has come in on the Panthers to cover. New Orleans lost to Carolina earlier this season by a score of 26-7, but that was with a healthy McCaffrey and an offense that had yet to fall off the rails. Carolina is 0-5 ATS in their past five contests overall. New Orleans has also struggled to cover the spread recently, going 0-4 ATS in their previous four home games. This is one of the tougher contests to handicap, so we will be going with the head-to-head trends. The road team is 5-1 ATS in the past six meetings between these two teams. Tap the Panthers to cover for Week 17.

The total for this contest sits at 38.5. As mentioned above, these two teams combined for 33 points in their meeting earlier this season, but that was with better offenses. Divisional battles are usually under fodder. However, the over is 11-4 in the past 15 meetings between these two teams. Overall, the over is 5-1 in the Panthers’ past six games. However, the under is 5-0 in the Saints’ past five overall. It is a tight one, but based on the struggles of the offenses of these two teams, tap the under for Week 17. 

All NFL game predictions and picks are courtesy of SportsGrid.

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