The Carolina Panthers are heavy underdogs for Sunday’s game against the Saints. According to the latest odds at BetMGM, New Orleans is favored by more than a touchdown at home. As expected, the experts are pretty much all picking New Orleans to win this week. Let’s take a dive and see just how gloomy the predictions are for this NFC South tilt.

Here are the Week 7 picks from some of our favorite analysts.

ESPN: Saints

We start with a clean sweep at ESPN. All 10 of their experts are picking New Orleans.

CBS Sports: Saints

Will Brinson has the Saints winning, 31-24.

Sporting News: Saints

Vinnie Iyer spotted Carolina one less touchdown. He has New Orleans winning 31-17.

MMQB: Saints

We have our first dissenter. Five out of the MMQB’s six experts picked the Saints. Conor Orr went with the Panthers, though.

USA Today: Saints

A fitting end to these picks is another sweep, here. All seven experts at USA Today Sports picked New Orleans.

As you may know here at Panthers Wire we delight in making contrarian picks like last week against the Bears. This time we’re not feeling quite so confident in this team, though.

While Carolina is better than we expected and New Orleans doesn’t look like the powerhouse Super Bowl contender they did the previous three seasons, this is still a tall task to beat this team on the road. The Saints have won six of the last seven in this series and the one they lost should have an asterisk considering the players they benched.

More importantly, this Panthers team is reeling from bad luck, both in regards to injuries and the pandemic. Three players are currently on the COVID-19 list, several starters are on injured reserve and several more are being hampered by nagging injuries.

Add it all up and it’s too much to hope for an upset. Saints 26, Panthers 20.

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When the Panthers played the Saints five weeks ago in New Orleans, nobody thought they could pull off an upset. While Carolina made it interesting, ultimately the experts were proved right.

This time around, the Saints are favored by even more (12.5 points) and the experts are all picking them again.

ESPN: Saints

Louis Riddick’s picks aren’t in yet, but everybody else at ESPN is predicting a New Orleans win.

CBS Sports: Saints

It’s the same story over at CBS, where the entire panel picked the Saints.

SB Nation: Saints

There’s one dissenter at SB Nation. Patrick Holloway has picked the Panthers to win, but the rest all went the other way.

NFL.com: Saints

Gregg Rosenthal is also picking the Saints. He doesn’t think they will cover the spread, though. He has New Orleans winning 30-19.

USA Today: Saints

There’s no exceptions at USA Today, where every expert chose the Saints.

As for our pick, we have been waiting for about two months for this Panthers team to wake up and play to its potential. It would be foolish to expect it now, especially after getting crushed by a mediocre Colts team last week. New Orleans 33, Carolina 17.

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Nobody thinks the Panthers can upset the Saints on Sunday. Reviewing the expert picks, we couldn’t find a single human who chose Carolina.

Here’s a look at what they’re saying about this week’s matchup.

ESPN: Saints

Everyone over at ESPN is going with New Orleans, as is the Pigskin Pick em’ machine.

CBS Sports: Saints

CBS agrees. All eight of their panelists are predicting a Saints win.

SB Nation: Saints

All of the human experts at SB Nation are picking the Saints. Princess the Good Dog is going with the Panthers, though.

NFL.com: Saints

Gregg Rosenthal has New Orleans covering and then some. He’s predicting Carolina will go down 27-14.

USA Today: Saints

It’s another sweep for the Saints at USA Today, where all seven experts are picking them to win.

Pro Football Focus: Saints

All eight of PFF’s experts are going with New Orleans this week.

Sometimes when there’s this much of a consensus we like to go the other direction and make an against-the-grain pick. This is not one of those instances.

It’s rare for any NFL team to get blown out two weeks in a row, especially one as talented as this Panthers group. I think they’ll keep it competitive, but the Saints are a much better team on paper. Their defense in particular is playing at a high level right now, especially on the back end. That will only exacerbate Carolina’s quarterback problems.

Saints 28, Panthers 20.

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