{"id":25012,"date":"2012-09-15T11:06:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T16:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=25012"},"modified":"2012-09-15T11:06:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-15T16:06:24","slug":"nfl-week-2-predictions-new-orleans-saints-vs-carolina-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-2-predictions-new-orleans-saints-vs-carolina-panthers-25012\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 2 Predictions: New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers
\nSunday, 9\/16\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 New Orleans -3
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 New Orleans -2.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 51
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 52
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Carolina Panthers need to establish the running game against the New Orleans Saints<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Orleans will seek its first win of the season when opening up its 2012 NFC South schedule on Sunday inside Bank of America Stadium, as the franchise comes off a disappointing 40-32 setback as eight-point home favorites last week.\u00a0 \u201cWe had one bad game,\u201d stated Saints interim head coach Aaron Kromer.\u00a0 \u201cWe were all disappointed.\u201d\u00a0 The Saints are still feeling the effects of Bountygate, especially not having Sean Payton on the sidelines for the entire campaign.\u00a0 New Orleans is 4-0 ATS in its last four division games, while the \u201cunder\u201d is 8-1 in the last nine meetings in this series in Carolina.<\/p>\n

The Saints are hoping that quarterback Drew Brees can move past a sub-par performance in Week 1, completing just 24-of-52 passes for 339 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.\u00a0 New Orleans could potentially bounce back, as it hasn\u2019t lost in this series since 2009, which includes scoring a combined 75 points in sweeping the 2011 series.\u00a0 Offensively, the team must establish some sort of running game, gaining just 32 yards on 10 carries versus the Redskins.<\/p>\n

Carolina suffered a disappointing 16-10 season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as three-point road favorites last week, as it was out-gained on the ground by 120 yards.\u00a0 \u201cIt wasn\u2019t fun watching, just for the fact that we weren\u2019t winning,\u201d commented Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart who didn\u2019t participate in the game due to an ankle injury.\u00a0 The franchise isn\u2019t too concerned about its running game, as it didn\u2019t top 100 rushing yards in the first two weeks in 2011.\u00a0 Carolina is 2-8 ATS in September.<\/p>\n

The Panthers are certainly capable of big numbers in the running game, with DeAngelo Williams joining Stewart in the backfield, while Cam Newton is the biggest dual-threat signal-caller in the league.\u00a0 The former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback threw for 303 yards and a touchdown against the Buccaneers, but finished with a career-low four rushing yards.\u00a0 Everyone in the locker room is focused on trying avoid going 0-2 for the fourth consecutive season.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Panthers due their 5-1 ATS mark after allowing less than 150 yards passing, while the Saints are 2-6 ATS in the last eight meetings.<\/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":"

New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers Sunday, 9\/16\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 New Orleans -3 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 New Orleans -2.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 51 Current Total:\u00a0 52 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker New Orleans will seek its first win of the season when opening up its 2012 NFC South schedule on Sunday […]<\/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":[3365,279,1034,427,3717,31],"class_list":["post-25012","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-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfc-south","tag-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25012","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=25012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25015,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25012\/revisions\/25015"}],"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=25012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}