There’s more reason for celebration other than the start of the NFL regular season, as the two expansion teams from 1995 will celebrate their 20th year in the league with a Week 1 battle against one another.
Slowly rebuilding towards their first playoff appearance since 2007 are the Jacksonville Jaguars. They will be on the prowl for a win at EverBank Field on September 13 against the defending NFC South champs, the Carolina Panthers.
Have both the Jaguars and the Panthers done enough during the offseason to elevate themselves as prime contenders for the Lombardi Trophy, and get an impressive Week 1 victory to get their respective seasons off to a strong start? Read on as we tackle this intriguing inaugural match.
For more coverage on Week 1 of the NFL regular season, check out our previews for New Orleans vs. Arizona and Miami vs. Washington.
[sc:Football ]Carolina Panthers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars Betting Preview and Prediction
Where: EverBank Field, Jacksonville
When: Sunday, September 13, 2015 1:00 PM ET
Line: Carolina Panthers (-3) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (+3); total: 41.0 – view all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: FOX
Betting on the Carolina Panthers
[sc:NFL240banner ]The 2014 Carolina Panthers learned that that you can make the playoffs even with a losing record, but they also found out that doing so won’t get you that far into the postseason either. The 2015 Panthers are aiming to stay competitive from start to finish this time around, and they can begin with a W against the seemingly hapless Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1.
However, Carolina’s fortunes were recently reversed with the loss of the team’s 1,000-yard receiver last season in Kelvin Benjamin. The second-year wideout tore his ACL during the preseason and will not play for the entirety of this year’s campaign. To add insult to Carolina’s receiving corps’ literal injury, second-round pick Devin Funchess may not be able to suit up for the opening game as well as he continues to nurse a hamstring injury of his own.
Even as the promising deep ball threats of the Panthers are dropping like flies, the team can still bank on a solid running game, one that ranked seventh in the league last season. Cam Newton remained versatile last year when he was scrambling, marking his fourth-consecutive 500-yard rushing season (as a quarterback, no less) in as many years as a pro. Eight-year Carolina lifer Jonathan Stewart no longer has DeAngelo Williams to share touches with, so you can expect him to top his 809-yard 2014 outing this season.
Of course, Carolina’s imposing defense is still largely intact as well. This is practically the same unit that only gave up an average of 10.75 points over its last four games last season – the same four-game winning stretch that propelled the team to an unexpected playoff berth. Look for star linebacker Luke Keuchly – the NFL’s top tackling force last season – and the rest of the defense to contain a Jacksonville offense that averaged just 15.6 points per game last season, worst in the NFL.
The Panthers have lost all two of their only games played in Jacksonville, both straight-up and against the spread.
Betting on the Jacksonville Jaguars
Growing pains aside, quarterback Blake Bortles made a sound first impression as the team’s signal caller last season. 2,908 yards in the air for 11 touchdowns and 17 picks in 2014 is nothing special, but the UCF product’s rookie campaign proved to be more promising than Jacksonville’s past QB options (Chad Henne or Blaine Gabbert, anyone?).
Bortles even got a nice, big gift over the offseason in the form of former Bronco Julius Thomas. Unfortunately, Thomas – who signed a five-year, $46-million dollar contract with the Jags – will likely have to sit out the first month of the regular season to tend to his broken index finger. The 6’5”, 250-lb tight end caught 12 touchdown passes from Peyton Manning in each of his past two seasons in Denver.
Good thing Jacksonville still has a pair of capable second-year “Allens” at the offense’s wings in wideouts Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns for Bortles to chuck his passes to. The latter, in particular, could have another Week 1 spectacle up his sleeve. Hurns had four receptions for 110 yards and two TDs in the Jaguars’ 2014 season opener against Philadelphia.
Expect Jacksonville’s defense to be aggressive in taking down Cam Newton from the get-go two Sundays from now. In spite of not having a star player in its defensive unit, Jacksonville surprisingly still ranked sixth in the league last season in sacks. A collaborative effort from the Jags’ front seven will look to exploit a tattered Carolina aerial squad, while the team’s top tackler in strong safety Johnathan Cyprien (114 total tackles with 80 of them all to his own in 2014) will anchor the team’s secondary.
The total has gone under in six of Jacksonville’s last nine games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Jags keep things close, but the Panthers still prevail with a 19-16 victory for their first-ever win at EverBank Field.
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