Improving Panthers, Bills Meet in Carolina

NFL News - October 21st, 2009 - Written by John

Two weeks ago, it seemed as if nothing was going to save the floundering Buffalo Bills or Carolina Panthers. Running two of the most unfashionable offenses with quarterbacks seeming to be nothing more than sitting ducks, both once-proud franchises were relegated to the basement. Only the Bills had a win to their name, a Week Two victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Carolina was throwing pop ups to defensive backs with more turnovers than scores.

Now fast forward to Week Seven and there is a completely different story to tell. Carolina is 2-0 in their last two games and Buffalo is 1-1, including an overtime upset of the New York Jets. One of those teams will keep the momentum going this week when they meet in Carolina on Sunday.

The game currently has no line due to it's appearance of being a toss-up, but we will continue to monitor several NFL Sportsbooks and update bettors when something becomes available.

Neither Buffalo's Trent Edwards or Carolina's Jake Delhomme have hit the 1,000 yard mark this season, but figure to reach that mark this weekend. Their offenses are 25th and 31st respectively, scoring an average of 17 and 15 points per game. The sputtering air attack has opened the door for their running games to explode, however. Fred Jackson, who was signed to be the back-up last offseason, rose to first-team when Marshawn Lynch was suspended for the first four games. He has made the most of his opportunity, rushing for 415 yards, which is good enough for 11th in the league.

Carolina's success with the ground game in '09 has come a little less surpringly. Riding the legs of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, the Panthers led the NFL in rushing last year and are on pace to finish among the top again. The pair each ran for 100 yards and a score last week and have combined for 620 overall. Were those yards to come exclusively from one back (and it wouldn't be all that unreasonable given their 137 carries are only ten more than the league-leader), it would be good enough for best in the league.

But the success of the ground game has come at the expense of a faltering passing one. Terrell Owens has had little impact with the Bills offense as he was promised to do, and only has 15 receptions and one touchdown.

Meanwhile, Panthers All-Pro wideout Steve Smith told reporters earlier this week that he didn't feel like he was an "asset" to the team anymore with only 259 yards and zero scores.

There may be cause for concern, but it poses a betting opportunity. Outside of the obvious immediate state of these teams, there is reason to believe that this game will hit the under. Sure, they are two of the lowest scoring team's in the NFL, but the Panthers have shown a long history of low-scoring games at this point in the season. Carolina has hit the under in nine of their last ten games in Week Seven. They are 7-2 hitting the under in their last nine October games and are 13-5 hitting the under overall in their last 18 home games.

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