Carolina Panthers (1-2) @ New England Patriots (1-2)
Sunday, September 28, 1:00 PM ET
It’s a Super Bowl rematch between two…
You know what, never mind. This matchup is yet another uninspiring one, but nobody’s going to complain.
Both the Patriots and Panthers have just one win so far this season, but the Panthers are coming off of a massive confidence-boosting win against their division rival Falcons. The Patriots, on the other hand, dropped a tough one against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3.
At this stage of the season, we’ve seen the Panthers’ defense both look horrendous and downright dominant. The switch was seemingly flipped against the Arizona Cardinals after they started off trailing 27-3, and nearly mounted a comeback to beat Arizona.
Against the Falcons, the Panthers forced three turnovers (including an interception returned for a touchdown) and they obviously didn’t allow a single point. They will obviously be licking their chops after we saw the Patriots lose a whopping four fumbles against the Steelers in Week 3.
And the Patriots have to be thinking that if they can correct those mistakes and stop with the self-inflicted errors, they can easily get back on track at home against a team that just had 224 yards of offense and doesn’t really get to the quarterback all that often.
The Patriots open this game as 5.5-point favorites, which feels a bit generous, but I still like them to win straight-up.
Prediction: Patriots win 23-20