The Carolina Panthers are surprisingly doing better than what most people expected of them, so far this. They can surprise even more folks if they manage to take down the New Orleans Saints, who are also playing catchup to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South.
The Panthers saw their three-game win streak come to an end last Sunday, as they lost to the Chicago Bears at home, 23-16. The Panthers’ offense was simply crippled by the Bears’ elite defense. Teddy Bridgewater passed for 216 yards on 16-of-29 completions and had zero touchdowns while getting picked off twice. He was also sacked for a loss of 25 yards. But if Panthers fans need something to be excited about entering Week 7, they can turn to reports that star running back Christian McCaffrey could possibly return to action as soon as this Sunday. McCaffrey has missed multiple games due to an ankle injury, and if he could get back to action this week, that’ll be a huge boost for Carolina’s offense that is averaging 23.0 points per game. Carolina can definitely use a talent like McCaffrey to help them covert drives into points. The Panthers are 11th in the league with 383.5 total yards per game but are just 28th in red zone touchdown percentage (47.83).
The Panthers are 2-0 against the spread in their last two games on the road.
After suffering back-to-back losses, the Saints have seemingly recovered, as shown by their two-straight wins against the Detroit Lions (35-29) on the road in Week 4 and a 30-27 overtime win at home against the LA Chargers the following week before heading into their bye in Week 5. The Saints won those games even without Michael Thomas, who has yet to play since suffering an injury back in Week 1’s date with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Thomas is reportedly in line to return to action this week against the Panthers. His presence downfield will further make New Orleans’ attack even more lethal than its form of late. The Saints, who are fifth in the NFL with 30.6 points per game and also fifth with 3.6 touchdowns per contest, have reached 30 points in each of their last three games. In Thomas’ absence, veteran Emmanuel Sanders has stepped up his game, especially of late. He had 93 receiving yards against the Lions and caught 12 of 14 targets for 122 receiving yards in the Chargers contest.
