Washington corner Josh Norman has had this matchup vs. his former team circled all season
Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers square off tonight against Kirk Cousins and the professional football club based out of Washington, DC. Newton is battling a shoulder injury to his throwing side but the Panthers confirmed Sunday that their leaders would be under center in Washington.
WEEK 15 MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Odds: Washington -7 and O/U 50.5
The Carolina Panthers have been a very unpredictable team this season, struggling to find some consistency from both the offense and defense. In wins over the Niners, Cardinals and Chargers, this team was reminiscent of last year’s conference champions but that team won 14-straight. For Ron Rivera this season, putting even two wins together often proved to be too much.
Carolina’s scoring margin on the season was 23.9 to 25.9 in favor of the opponent and close margin teams like this are a 61-percent play against the spread when getting points on the road. Later in the season, the record for these teams improves to 24-8 ATS and dogs of +7 or more are 8-1 ATS.
Washington (WFC) has outscored opponents 25.4 to 24.4 on the season but they have not had a good history vs. the Panthers. Tonight the WFC will be trying to snap a four game losing streak to Carolina along with a five-game SU/ATS slump at home on Monday night. This line marks the highest Washington has been favored at FedEx in the primetime slot since 2000 and since then, they are 1-14 ATS with any line.
Revenge games for Jay Gruden have been a big “Over” spot, going 9-1 in the past 10, and with double revenge at home he’s gone 6-1 ATS. The Panthers are 5-0-1 O/U their past six primetime road games but with LB Luke Kuechly (Check status) eligible to rejoin the lineup tonight, there is a reasonable chance that the Panthers D will have success reeling in a road weary Washington team. Home teams off a long haul like the WFC usually have hard a hard time matching season stats and results from the past 26 games are 9 overs and 17 unders. The home faves went 6-8 ATS.
There is some uncertainly out of Carolina over who will play and for how long, but Rivera said this game is more than just a trial run for his second teamers. Getting seven points, I think the value on this game is with the Panthers.