NFL Christmas: Carolina - Atlanta
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| The Carolina Panthers spoiled the Washington Redskins playoff hopes on Monday night with a somewhat surprising 26-15 victory in Landover. The win was the Panthers 2nd straight as they moved to 6-8 SU on the season. It was also the 2nd straight week Carolinas improving defense shut down a high powered offense going back to their 28-16 victory over San Diego. Now the reemerging Panthers will host one of their NFC South Division rivals this Saturday when they meet the Atlanta Falcons at Bank of America Stadium. Atlanta leads the NFL in offense averaging a whopping 33.5 points per game. It has been an incredible season for the entire offense. Quarterback Matt Ryan has posted incredible numbers with 4,336 yards with 32 scores and just 7 picks. Running back Devonta Freeman is closing in on 1,000 yards. Meanwhile star WR Julio Jones has corralled 73 passes for 1,253 yards and 5 touchdowns despite battling turf toe in recent weeks. Jones actually missed last weeks victory over San Fran but has returned to practice this week which indicates he should be active on Saturday. Having Jones back will be very important considering Carolinas biggest weakness on defense is in their secondary. Panthers will not have enough firepower to pull out this victory. The reason I have those doubts is because of Cam Newton. I dont think people understand just how bad Cam has struggled in recent weeks. So let me break it down very quickly, Newton has completed just 73 of 158 (46.2 percent) passing in his last 5 games. Possible bet: Atlanta -2,5 points on Pinnaclesports | ||||||
