It would be fair to say that the Carolina Panthers have come out of almost nowhere to inject themselves into the playoff picture. They have now won seven games in row, and are even challenging for a division title. But some NFL bettors may believe that they could be vulnerable to another team that has suddenly gotten hot. And believe it or not, it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are playing at a very high level right now and present a real challenge to Ron Rivera’s team, in this game that begins at 1 PM ET at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
In the NFL betting odds posted on this game at BetAnySports, the Panthers are the home favorites:
NFL betting odds Courtesy of BetAnySports US Pro Football Betting Site
Carolina Panthers -7 -120
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +7 +100
Over 41 Points -110
Under 41 Points -110
The Panthers allowed 57 points in five home games this season. They have also won seven games in a row. Included were back-to-back victories over San Francisco and New England. At 8-3, they are in an NFC wild card position, but pro football bettors know they have designs on the NFC South title. Remember that New Orleans, which leads the division with a 9-2 mark, has to play against Seattle on Monday night, and Carolina has two meetings yet to come with the Saints.
The game plan is to play defense, run the ball and have quarterback Cam Newton improvise to make some plays. And they will hope to get some mid-range stuff out of tight end Greg Olson, as well as big plays out of wide receivers Ted Ginn Jr. (15.6 yards per catch) and Steve Smith (leads team with 51 receptions).
They will encounter some resistance from the Bucs (+265 at BetAnySports to win straight-up), who appear to have turned around their attitudes; that is, if there was truly an attitude problem to begin with. This team has just missed on a number of occasions, with four losses coming by a field goal or less.
Fans were calling for Greg Schiano’s head not long ago, but maybe he is saving his job with this three-game winning streak, in which the Bucs have beaten Miami, Atlanta and Detroit. The latter game came at Ford Field, and by no means are the Lions lacking for intensity at this point. There are several elements working for this team right now; one of them is rookie quarterback Mike Glennon, who is ninth in the league in passer efficiency rating. Glennon was considered by many to be a “project,” but he has shown remarkable poise and the ability to make a lot of progress in a short period of time.
Some NFL bettors have been very surprised about the fact that Glennon has thrown just four interceptions in 269 attempts. When you consider that no NFL rookie quarterback has ever thrown more passes in his first four games than he has, it is rather amazing. You can put this down as a command decision made by Schiano (which included benching, then releasing Josh Freeman) that has been a winner, and that should count in the head coach’s favor when it comes time for the management to make its own command decision on his status at season’s end.
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