NFL Betting: Panthers vs. Patriots Odds & Pick: December 13th 2009

Carolina Panthers vs. New England Patriots
Free Pick: Carolina Panthers +13.0 (-110 odds)
Sun December 13th 2009 1:00p
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People keep waiting for the New England Patriots to explode, but the fact is that they are an overrated team this season that will only win the AFC East by default, while the Carolina Panthers looked a bit better last week with Matt Moore at quarterback instead of turnover-prone Jake Delhomme.

Besides the performances of these teams on the field, there is also some disarray in Patriot Land, as four players including Randy Moss were sent home earlier this week for being late to a team meeting.

In past years, this would have been a blowout alert for New England coming off a loss, but this simply not the same team. In fact, people expect the Pats to blow out Miami last week after their embarrassing Monday night performance against the New Orleans Saints, and yet the offense imploded in the fourth quarter of their 22-21 loss in Miami.

The fact is, the Patriots have a losing 5-6-1 ATS mark, and they have not blown anyone out since a 59-0 rout over a Tennessee Titans team that was in the midst of an 0-6 start. It no longer appears that the Patriots can turn it on with a flip of the switch as in past years.

Now the Panthers beat a bad Tampa Bay Buccaneers team last week, but the Bucs have been more competitive with Josh Freeman at QB, so Carolina does deserve credit for their defensive performance. Now the offense was not that explosive, but Moore did not make any mistakes either, and his task would be made easier here by another nice performance by the rushing tandem of Jonathan Stewart (126 yards last week) and DeAngelo Williams (back this week).

We do feel that the Panthers will be able to move the chains vs. a sometimes shaky New England defense, as we think they will be able to control the ball and shorten this game enough to cover this nearly two touchdown spread.

NFL Free Pick: Panthers +13 (-110)