The Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers meet for the second time this season, with the Panthers winning the first one. Will the Falcons level things up with a victory in Week 14? Or will the Panthers go 2-0 this season versus Atlanta? Check out our preview of this Falcons-Panthers Week 14 game below.
Atlanta is coming off a 30-17 home loss to the Buccaneers, which was not really a surprising result. Matt Ryan passed for nearly 300 yards on 30/41 completions but failed to find anyone for a touchdown. He avoided getting intercepted, but he got sacked five times for a loss of 38 yards. Ryan is still a capable quarterback, but Atlanta is simply lacking in support from plenty of areas around their quarterback. Still, Atlanta can still pull off a good performance from time to time, just like when it defeated the New Orleans Saints in Week 9 on the road, 29-27. The Falcons are meeting Carolina for the second time this season, with the hope of being better on both ends of the field, especially on offense. In the first meeting, the Falcons lost to Carolina, 19-13, at home, and mustered just 213 total yards. Carolina’s defense has gone softer of late, having allowed 60 points over the last couple of weeks.
The Falcons are 6-1 against the spread in their last seven road games versus a team with a losing home record.
The novelty of Cam Newton’s return to Carolina has seemingly worn off, made faster by the lack of on-field success of the Panthers since the quarterback decided to come back to his old team. The Panthers headed to their bye in Week 13 following back-to-back losses to the Washington Football Team (27-21) and the Miami Dolphins (33-10). However, as mentioned earlier, Carolina’s defense played a big role in those setbacks. Nevertheless, the Panthers are banking on their previous win over Atlanta as a blueprint to victory in this rematch. In the first meeting with the Falcons, Sam Darnold was still starting for Carolina and he went just 13/24 for 129 passing yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. Darnold managed to rush for 66 yards on just eight carries. With Newton, the Panthers have a more mobile quarterback who can gash Atlanta’s run defense that is only 22nd in the NFL with 119.3 rushing yards allowed per game.
The Panthers are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine games after scoring fewer than 15 points in their previous outing.
