{"id":20695,"date":"2011-12-30T22:00:03","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T03:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20695"},"modified":"2011-12-30T19:42:19","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T00:42:19","slug":"nfl-week-17-picks-carolina-panthers-vs-new-orleans-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-17-picks-carolina-panthers-vs-new-orleans-saints-20695\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 17 Picks: Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints
\nSunday, 1\/1\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 New Orleans -9
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 New Orleans -8
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 56
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 54.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Seahawks<\/a>
New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees will look to maintain his single-season NFL record for passing yards in a regular season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carolina has registered two impressive wins the last two weeks and will look to gain even more momentum heading into the offseason with a victory against one of the more talented teams in the league.\u00a0 The Panthers know it will have to start on the defensive end, facing an opponent that averages 457.1 yards per game.\u00a0 \u201cI think it\u2019s really the challenge more than anything else,\u201d stated Panthers first-year head coach Ron Rivera about Sunday\u2019s affair.\u00a0 His team will also be seeking revenge from a 30-27 defeat to the Saints earlier this year as 6.5-point home underdogs.\u00a0 Carolina has tallied a 9-6 ATS mark this season.<\/p>\n

The Panthers are led by rookie quarterback Cam Newton and wide receiver Steve Smith.\u00a0 Newton has been a part of 34 of the team\u2019s 45 offensive touchdowns, includign 14 rushing touchdowns.\u00a0 \u201cI believe there is certainly that kind of talent in the locker room to take the next step in 2012,\u201d commented Rivera this week.\u00a0 Smith ranks third in the NFC with 73 catches and will come in with 1,308 receiving yards and six touchdowns.<\/p>\n

New Orleans will definitely want to keep its momentum in winning its last seven games and comes off an impressive 45-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons as 6.5-point home favorites.\u00a0 The Saints are known for their passing attack, but it\u2019s important to note that the unit has out-gained its last five opponents on the ground.\u00a0 Head coach Sean Payton is hoping that rookie Mark Ingram will see the field in Sunday\u2019s contest, as he\u2019s missed the past three games with a turf toe injury.\u00a0 New Orleans is 1-4 ATS after playing on Monday Night Football the past two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Saints are playing to potentially capture the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and also looking to maintain quarterback Drew Brees\u2019 record for most passing yards in a single season.\u00a0 The former Purdue Boilermakers star comes in with 5,087 yards through the air and sits just 190 ahead of New England Patriots signal-caller Tom Brady.\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely an important angle to handicap, especially with Brees falling just short of the record a couple years ago.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Panthers due to their 16-7 ATS mark after scoring 30 or more points, while the Saints are 2-12 ATS in Week 17.<\/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 New Orleans Saints Sunday, 1\/1\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 New Orleans -9 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 New Orleans -8 Opening Total:\u00a0 56 Current Total:\u00a0 54.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Carolina has registered two impressive wins the last two weeks and will look to gain even more momentum heading into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":5413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[3365,279,1034,2040,427,31,2034],"class_list":["post-20695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-cam-newton","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-drew-brees","tag-mark-ingram","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfl","tag-steve-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20695","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=20695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20697,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20695\/revisions\/20697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}