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The New Orleans Saints rebounded in a big way this week, but the Carolina Panthers look like they’ve regressed hard. This always-tough NFC South rivalry series is set to pick up again in Week 12, and the Saints are clearly favored to win.
Per the opening line from BetMGM, the Saints are 8.5-point home favorites over the Panthers. With an over/under set at 47.5, that implies a final score in the neighborhood of Saints 28, Panthers 19. Not too shabby.
With Cam Newton sidelined for the rest of the year, Carolina has had to rely on Kyle Allen, which has produced mixed results. Allen’s initial success trailed off over the last month, and the Panthers’ record has fallen with it. Allen threw seven touchdown passes against zero interceptions in his first four starts, giving Carolina a four-game unbeaten stretch.
Since then, Allen has completed just three touchdown passes against nine interceptions. And the Panthers have lost three of their last four games to put their season on life support at 5-5, with a difficult road trip against the Saints next on their schedule.
If the Saints defense can be as proactive and disruptive against Carolina as they were versus Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a game in which they stole four interceptions and sacked Winston twice, hitting him a dozen other times — then they can take advantage of Allen, who’s been prone to making mistakes with the game on his shoulders.
Still, both of these teams received their most recent losses to the bottom-feeding Atlanta Falcons. Both squads know they can’t take anything for granted in the NFL, meaning an intense week of practice and preparation is ahead of them.
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