Panthers get no confidence from experts for Week 7 matchup with Saints
The Carolina Panthers are heavy underdogs for Sunday’s game against the Saints. According to the latest odds at BetMGM, New Orleans is favored by more than a touchdown at home. As expected, the experts are pretty much all picking New Orleans to win this week. Let’s take a dive and see just how gloomy the predictions are for this NFC South tilt.
Here are the Week 7 picks from some of our favorite analysts.
ESPN: Saints
We start with a clean sweep at ESPN. All 10 of their experts are picking New Orleans.
CBS Sports: Saints
Will Brinson has the Saints winning, 31-24.
Sporting News: Saints
Vinnie Iyer spotted Carolina one less touchdown. He has New Orleans winning 31-17.
MMQB: Saints
We have our first dissenter. Five out of the MMQB’s six experts picked the Saints. Conor Orr went with the Panthers, though.
USA Today: Saints
A fitting end to these picks is another sweep, here. All seven experts at USA Today Sports picked New Orleans.
As you may know here at Panthers Wire we delight in making contrarian picks like last week against the Bears. This time we’re not feeling quite so confident in this team, though.
While Carolina is better than we expected and New Orleans doesn’t look like the powerhouse Super Bowl contender they did the previous three seasons, this is still a tall task to beat this team on the road. The Saints have won six of the last seven in this series and the one they lost should have an asterisk considering the players they benched.
More importantly, this Panthers team is reeling from bad luck, both in regards to injuries and the pandemic. Three players are currently on the COVID-19 list, several starters are on injured reserve and several more are being hampered by nagging injuries.
Add it all up and it’s too much to hope for an upset. Saints 26, Panthers 20.
