{"id":11985,"date":"2010-12-30T03:44:25","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T08:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=11985"},"modified":"2010-12-30T03:44:25","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T08:44:25","slug":"nfl-handicappers-take-on-falcons-vs-panthers-game-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-handicappers-take-on-falcons-vs-panthers-game-preview-11985\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Handicappers Take on Falcons Vs Panthers Game Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
\nSunday, January 2, 2011, 1:00 pm EST, TV: FOX
\nOpening Line: Falcons -14.5
\nCurrent Line: Falcons -14.5
\nOpening Total: 41
\nCurrent Total: 41
\nMoney Line: Falcons -1200 \/ Panthers +800<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Falcons
Atlanta RB Michael Turner has rushed for eight touchdowns in the last four meetings with Carolina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Atlanta Falcons (12-3) blew an opportunity to clinch homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs in their 17-14 home loss to New Orleans on Monday Night Football, but they will get a second chance on Sunday when they host the cellar-dwelling Carolina Panthers (2-13).\u00a0 The Falcons (-14.5) could still lose the NFC West division to the Saints with a loss to the lowly Panthers and a victory by the defending Super Bowl champions at home against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Atlanta will try to forget the team\u2019s most recent performance at the Georgia Dome, which snapped a 15-game winning streak there and dropped quarterback Matt Ryan\u2019s career home record to 19-2.\u00a0 Ryan did not perform well in defeat against New Orleans, completing just 15 of 29 passes for 148 yards with one touchdown.\u00a0 His top target Roddy White was held to season lows of three catches for 43 yards while running back Michael Turner rushed for 48 yards and fumbled in a key spot near the goal line.<\/p>\n

Turner has thrived in the past against Carolina, averaging over 111 yards and scoring eight touchdowns in the last four meetings.\u00a0 He ran for a season-high three touchdowns and 112 yards in a 31-10 victory at Carolina in the first meeting this year back in Week 14.<\/p>\n

The Panthers have already clinched the dubious honor of the top overall pick in next year\u2019s NFL draft and will try to send out head coach John Fox with a strong performance.\u00a0 Fox is in the final year of his contract and likely will not ink a new deal with the team following another disappointing season.\u00a0 Rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen is also just 1-8 as a starter and could be replaced if a better player such as Stanford\u2019s Andrew Luck is available.<\/p>\n

Carolina is 0-7 straight-up and 2-5 against the spread on the road this year following a 27-3 loss at Pittsburgh last Thursday night.\u00a0 The team will have extra rest on its side for the first time since enjoying a bye week a little more than two months ago.\u00a0 The Panthers responded with their first win of the season after the bye, topping San Francisco 23-20 when kicker John Kasay converted a 37-yard field-goal attempt with 39 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

The Falcons have won three of the last four meetings with Carolina both SU and ATS, and the OVER is 3-0-1 in those games.\u00a0 The OVER is also 3-1 in the last four road games for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

If you are betting this football game between the Falcons & Panthers, make sure to check out the winning NFL picks packages we offer.\u00a0 You can also get free winners on our free NFL picks page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA Sunday, January 2, 2011, 1:00 pm EST, TV: FOX Opening Line: Falcons -14.5 Current Line: Falcons -14.5 Opening Total: 41 Current Total: 41 Money Line: Falcons -1200 \/ Panthers +800 The Atlanta Falcons (12-3) blew an opportunity to clinch homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":5439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[123,279,4278,2539,2508,1930,1922],"class_list":["post-11985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-falcons-panthers-preview","tag-football-betting","tag-free-nfl-pick","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11986,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11985\/revisions\/11986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}