{"id":20276,"date":"2011-12-16T20:30:56","date_gmt":"2011-12-17T01:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20276"},"modified":"2011-12-16T09:58:20","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T14:58:20","slug":"nfl-week-15-predictions-carolina-panthers-vs-houston-texans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-15-predictions-carolina-panthers-vs-houston-texans-20276\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 15 Predictions: Carolina Panthers vs. Houston Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolina Panthers at Houston Texans
\nSunday, 12\/18\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Houston -6.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Houston -6
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 46.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 45
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Carolina Panthers are a team to watch heading into the 2012 season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carolina was on the verge of putting together a three-game winning streak until the Atlanta Falcons stormed back to capture a 31-23 win as three-point road favorites last week.\u00a0 The Panthers have had every opportunity to have a better mark than their current 4-9 record.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you lead 12 out of 13, you have a chance to win games,\u201d commented Panthers head coach Ron Rivera.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got to grow up and get past a lot of things.\u201d\u00a0 Carolina is 3-3 ATS on the road this season and the \u2018over\u2019 is 4-1 in that particular situation.<\/p>\n

The Panthers offense is certainly dynamic behind the play of quarterback Cam Newton, as he sits just 167 passing yards away from breaking Peyton Manning\u2019s rookie record.\u00a0 Carolina has registered an NFL-best 76 plays that have covered 20 or more yards and the running game has hit or gone over the century mark in 11 straight games, ranking fifth in the league in averaging 139.1 rushing yards per game.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, the defense is incredibly banged up, losing four starters in the front seven to season-ending injuries.<\/p>\n

Houston overcame a 16-3 halftime deficit to walk away with a 20-19 win over the Cincinnati Bengals to clinch the franchise\u2019s first-ever division title and playoff berth.\u00a0 It came under improbably circumstances with rookie quarterback T.J. Yates making just his second start, connecting on 26 of 44 passes for 300 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.\u00a0 \u201cWe were pretty calm,\u201d commented Yates after pulling off the heroics. \u201cWe knew that the defense had done a great job giving us the ball back.\u201d\u00a0 Houston is 9-3 ATS on the year and the \u2018under\u2019 is 9-4 through 13 games.<\/p>\n

The Texans have been ravaged by injuries throughout the season and lost starting right guard Mike Brisiel last week to a leg fracture.\u00a0 Houston is hoping that wide receiver Andre Johnson will return to the lineup, but he\u2019s likely to sit out now that a postseason berth has been solidified, missing six games this year with a hamstring issue.\u00a0 Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will not be on the sidelines Sunday, recovering from minor surgery that he underwent on Thursday.\u00a0 He has played a major part in the team\u2019s success and making the stop unit No. 1 in the league in allowing just 274.9 yards per game.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Panthers due to their 15-6 ATS mark in December, while the Texans are 9-11 ATS at home the past two-plus years.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolina Panthers at Houston Texans Sunday, 12\/18\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Houston -6.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Houston -6 Opening Total:\u00a0 46.5 Current Total:\u00a0 45 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Carolina was on the verge of putting together a three-game winning streak until the Atlanta Falcons stormed back to capture a 31-23 win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":17237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[3365,279,1120,31,6145,3583,1060],"class_list":["post-20276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-cam-newton","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-houston-texans","tag-nfl","tag-ron-rivera","tag-t-j-yates","tag-wade-phillips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20276","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\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20277,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20276\/revisions\/20277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}