The Panthers open as underdogs against the Atlanta Falcons, who’ve won 2 straight

Alex Zietlow
·2 min read
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Carolina has lost four straight, and each loss appears to be worse than the one before it.

Perhaps that’s why Las Vegas sportsbooks say the Panthers (3-4), fresh off a disastrous loss to the now-two-win New York Giants, are underdogs ahead of their road contest against the Atlanta Falcons (3-3) on Halloween Sunday.

As of Sunday (Oct. 24) at 7 p.m.:

  • Vegas Insider’s Consensus Line reads that the Panthers are one-point underdogs with an over/under of 47. (The Panthers opened as 2.5-point underdogs according to the same line.)

  • Action Network has the Panthers as three-point underdogs with an over/under at 48.5.

  • FanDuel has the Panthers as 1.5-point underdogs.

  • And Fox Sports has the Falcons favored by 1.5 points.

The Falcons and Panthers are trending in different directions.

Carolina, of course, is still searching for rock bottom after losing to the Giants and doing so without giving its fans any illusion of hope after halftime: The team rushed for less than 60 total yards. The defense played well but couldn’t sustain bailing out their incompetent counterparts by the fourth quarter. And quarterback Sam Darnold played so poorly he got benched. (Rhule told reporters postgame that Darnold is expected to the be the starter Sunday.)

And this was all after starting the year 3-0.

As for the Falcons? After losing three of their first four, they have won two straight — a 27-20 win over the Jets, and a 30-28 win over the Dolphins that came down to a field goal as time expired.

Perhaps the tides could change for the Panthers on Sunday. For as bad as they’ve been on this four-game stretch, they’re still undefeated in divisional play, and everyone in the NFC South is vulnerable. (That’s especially true for the Falcons, who’ve given up on average 29.3 points and 373.3 yards per game.)

But what could trigger said change?

Star running back Christian McCaffrey, who is proving his value more and more with every loss while he sits the sideline, isn’t eligible to return until Week 9. And the Panthers’ free agency bargain-of-a-pickup, defensive back Stephon Gilmore, was eligible to play this week but didn’t travel with the team to New York and remains on the team’s Physically Unable to Perform list.