NFL Betting Picks: Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers
Added on Dec 23, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
1 Comment
NFL betting on Thursday brings a somewhat uninspiring matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the lowly Carolina Panthers. The Steelers have already clinched a playoff berth and are tied with Baltimore atop the AFC North with a 10-4 record. The only thing the Panthers have to look forward to is the first round pick in this summer’s NFL draft. Carolina is 2-12 on the year and in last place in the NFC South.
Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers
December 23, 2010 5:30 PM Pacific
Oddly enough, the Panthers are coming in off a win while the Steelers are off a loss. Pittsburgh suffered a tough loss to the New York Jets, but have already clinched a postseason berth. Even so, they’d definitely like to get back in the win column and will have a perfect opportunity to do so here. The Panthers are coming off only their second win of the year with a victory over hapless Arizona. This win ‘improved’ their record to 2-12 on the season.
Upon initial analysis, the Steelers minus the points looks like the obvious play for no other reason than a Panthers ‘go against’. Not only are the Panthers just 2-12 SU they’re 4-10 ATS and considering that their miserable play hasn’t been a secret those are pretty pitiful numbers. They’re 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS on the road this season and 1-10 SU/3-8 ATS as an underdog. They’re also 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS against teams with winning records and have a short preparation week following Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.
As if Carolina’s poor record—both straight up and against the spread—not enough of a reason to fade them here, they’ve put up some of the worst numbers on offense in recent memory. Carolina is dead last in total offense (266.1 YPG), passing offense (149.3 YPG) and scoring offense (13.1 PPG) though they do have a competent running game that ranks #12 at 116.8 yards per game. They’ve got a rookie as a starting quarterback in former Notre Dame standout Jimmy Clausen—he’s not a bad kid, but he’s just in over his head at this point and has a 2 to 7 touchdown to interception ratio. He’s also not broken 200 yards in his brief NFL career.
That being said, plenty of people have lost plenty of money betting on ‘obvious’ sides in the NFL and it just doesn’t get any more ‘obvious’ than playing the Steelers here. Even though Pittsburgh is a far superior team, there is a case that can be made for taking nearly two touchdowns with the Panthers. Carolina has covered 3 of their last 4 spots as an underdog of 10 or more points. They’re also 1-0 ATS this season as a road dog of 10.5 to 13 points and 3-0 ATS since 2008. Perhaps the biggest concern for a Steelers’ backer is their own sputtering offense—Pittsburgh has scored only three touchdowns in their last 15 quarters.
If Pittsburgh lost this game outright it would be the biggest upset of the year and we’re not about to suggest a Carolina victory here. But with a solid rushing attack that can keep the clock running and with Pittsburgh’s own issues at putting points on the board we’ll go with the contrarian position here and look for Carolina to stay within the pointspread in a low scoring game.
Bet Carolina Panthers +15 over Pittsburgh Steelers
Bet Carolina/Pittsburgh Under 37
1 Comment
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December 26, 10:48 am
i think you need a better offence need someone like michel vick also deffensivly ray lewis and larry foxdrall this is coming from a true panthers fan from north carolina in rockwell and waching loses back to back is horribal and if you want to go to the superbowl next year get the right people in the lines looking at randay barber is someone i feel should be looked at we also need lexie buress