Both the Dolphins and the Panthers traded one of their best offensive players ahead of last Tuesday’s trade deadline. Miami inexplicably traded 2016 Pro Bowl running back Jay Ajayi to the Eagles for nothing more than a fourth-round pick while Carolina sent top receiver Kelvin Benjamin to the Buffalo Bills for a third-round and seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft. Theoretically this evens things out when they meet here in Week 10.
The Dolphins and the Panthers have only played one another a total of five times, with Miami winning all but one, with the loss dating back to 2013. But at the moment, Carolina has won its past 10 meetings as at least a 7.5-point home favorites and covered in seven of them. The Dolphins on the other hand are 1-9 straight up and 4-6 against the spread in their past 10 games as an 7.5-point plus underdog on the road.
Adam Gase head coach of the Miami Dolphins told the team he wanted to make a point before the trade deadline, and so he sent off Jay Ajayi who struggled running the ball all year for the Dolphins. Well in his first game for the Eagles Ajayi had a lot of success running the ball, and the Dolphins couldn’t get anything going on the ground.
After winning four of the first six games of the season the Dolphins come into this game really struggling having lost the last two games against the Ravens and the Raiders. For the most of the season the problem had been the quarterback play, but that wasn’t the case in the game against the Raiders. He threw for 311 yards, three touchdowns and had a completion percentage of 81 percent. It wasn’t enough though and the Raiders won 27-24.
The defensive side of the ball hasn’t been terrible for the Dolphins, but also hasn’t been the best. They currently are giving up 22.4 points per game which is 16th in the country.
The strength of the defense has been the run defense only allowing 94 yards per game which is 7th best in the NFL. To win this game Jay Cutler is going to need to have another good game, and the defense is going to have to step up and try to slow down Cam Newton and the Panthers offense.
On the other side of this match up is the Carolina Panthers who for the most part have had a nice season, and come into this game with a 6-3 record. Three games ago they got embarrassed by a bad Chicago Bears team, and in the last two games against division rivals they played much better, and won both games.
They haven’t really blown away teams, but they have seemed to make key plays down the stretch of games and that has helped to result in wins. For the Panthers the strength of the team has been on the defensive side of the ball. They are currently giving up 17.7 points per game which is 4th in the NFL.
They are only giving up 274.1 yards per game which is 1st in the country.To win this game they need to get Jay Cutler to turn the ball over. He will turn the ball over if you pressure him, and I would expect the Panthers to really try and pressure the Dolphins. Cam Newton also needs to try and not turn the ball over. He has had problems with that at times, and he can’t let that get in the way of his play.
Writer’s Prediction:
Carolina has been off and on at home as quarterback Jay Cutler has also danced in the same world with poor and good performances from week to week. Ten points is a lot and hey, Cutler might do some of his surprising magic Monday night. Pick: Dolphins (+10)
