New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Matchup Preview (1/2/22): Betting Odds, Depth Charts, Live Stream (Watch Online)

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Matchup Preview (1/2/22)

The Carolina Panthers are flying out to New Orleans to take on the Saints. The two teams find themselves in the bottom two spots of the NFC South, trailing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints share a record of 7-8 with the Falcons but are a game behind after losing 27-25 to the Atlanta team. Next week, they take on the Falcons for their last matchup that can seal their fate, so they are desperate for the home win against the Panthers to give them an edge. The Panthers are entering Week 17 with a long five-game losing streak that has pushed them away from their 3-0 season start. The two teams have already met earlier this season that resulted in a Panthers 26-7 win. Both teams are seeking to finish this season on a positive note, and it all comes down to this NFC South showdown.

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Betting Odds

In this second meeting of the Panthers and the Saints, the Saints are walking into the game with a significant favor. ESPN’s matchup predictor projects the Saints will win with a 65.9% confidence interval. At their last meeting, the Saints were also favored by over 67% but were significantly upset by the Carolina team. Since the Week Two meeting, the Saints have shown much improvement, while the Panthers have begun to slip through the cracks. 

DraftKings also favors the Saints with a spread of -6.5 (-110) and a moneyline of -280 compared to a Panthers’ spread of +6.5 (-110) and +225 moneyline. The Saints have been 7-8 against the spread all season with a considerable five-game under streak. The Panthers have fallen off on the spread record as well, failing to cover their past five games, with four out of five failing to cover by at least 10.5 points. The Saints’ defense has improved to fall within the top five in the league when the Panthers’ offense continues to fall in the bottom ten making this matchup seem very one-sided. 

The over/under has been placed at 37.5 points, which is considerably low compared to other NFL matchups this week. Both teams have a history of hitting the under, where the Saints have five games in a row. This is a large shift from their four-game over streak from earlier in the season. Both teams are entering this matchup majority healthy, which gives hope that many other teams don’t possess and can lead to higher point values than normal for both teams.

My Prediction: Saints Win 24-13, Saints cover, Under 37.5

TV Schedule

Date: 1/2/22
Time: 4:25 PM ET
Location: Caesars Superdome
TV Coverage: FOX

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Live Stream

Where can you watch Saints vs. Panthers online? You can stream this game, and many other NFL games live online with Hulu. Hulu has a 7 Day free trial and is cheaper than cable options at $5.99/month. Watch Saints vs. Panthers Free Online Now.

New Orleans Saints Analysis

The New Orleans Saints are clawing their way at a chance for playoffs. They broke a five-game losing streak they had in the middle of the season after switching quarterbacks from Trevor Siemain to Taysom Hill. The quarterback difficulties of the Saints have been excruciating for the team switching from Jameis Winston to Trevor Seimani to Taysom Hill to Ian Book. Injuries and underperformance have caused the switch and have inhibited the team from finding the proper groove and are responsible for the team’s erratic play.

Taysom Hill will be the starting quarterback for New Orleans entering this week after being on the sideline last week with a positive COVID test. On the season, Hill has had three starts and 649 passing yards. Hill’s skill is not only found in his arm but his rushing ability. He has ran the ball 53 times for 311 yards and four touchdowns. He has a very tough demeanor and can take a hit arguably better than any other quarterback in the league. He knows how to run through defenses and pick up runs as long as 44 yards with incredible jukes and hurdles that leave fans stunned. The 31-year-old is only in his 5th season in the NFL but acts like he could be a hungry rookie quarterback. The Carolina Panthers will need to track his movements in order to keep him at bay in this matchup. 

When you think of the New Orleans Saints, you can’t help but think of Alvin Karama. Karama helped lead Drew Brees to several wins in his history with the Saints and has helped keep them afloat this 2021 season. He has 720 yards this season on 197 attempts which lands him as the 9th placed running back on attempts in the league. The Panthers have a difficult time stopping the run, so Karama may be a key target for the team going into this matchup. His speed and strength separate him from the pack and make him a huge threat to any defensive line.

New Orleans Saints Depth Chart

QB: Taysom Hill
RB1: Alvin Kamara
RB2: Mark Ingram II
WR1: Tre’Quan Smith
WR2: Marquez Callaway
WR3: Lil’Jordan Humphrey
TE1: Adam Trautman

Carolina Panthers Analysis

The Carolina Panthers have had a very disappointing second half to their 2021 season. Many fans had faith after their ex-QB1, Cam Newton, returned to his original team, but he failed to keep his starting spot on the team. They have returned to their original starter, Sam Darnold, and he has not lighted the team to success. Darnold has 2,176 yards this season with ten games. He missed several games with a scapula fracture but returned last week against the Buccaneers to take a 32-6 loss. The decision to start Darnold over Cam Newton was debated by the team managers but solidified after Newton led the team to five straight losses. To be fair to Newton, he was missing Christain McCaffrey and had a partially injured DJ Moore, who are the team’s best players, but he was unable to emerge victorious either way.

DJ Moore leads the Carolina team in receiving yards with 1,041 yards, landing him 14th in the league. He has struggled with a hamstring injury over the past several weeks and has been questionable going into several weeks with continuing pain. He is arriving into this week healthy and has been able to put up large yardage even with both of his quarterbacks struggling to have a 50% completion rating. Moore started this season with an average of 99.5 yards in his first four games but has fallen to an average of 72.5 yards in his more recent four games. His pain in his hamstring has gone away, hopefully making him a more significant threat for the Panther’s offense. If Sam Darnold can clean up his accuracy, the duo between him and DJ Moore can be very hard to beat.

The rush offense of the Panthers has been more successful than the passing offense, even with their top rusher having half the yards of their top receiver. This is because their star running back, Christian McCaffrey, has been on the sideline since November and remains out because of a positive COVID test. In his place, Chuba Hubbard has racked up 509 rushing yards and has four touchdowns on the season. The Oklahoma State grad has been a crucial part of this offense because of the difficulties with the quarterbacks on the team but had very little success last week against the Buccaneers. The Saints have a very competitive rush defense, so Hubbard will need to use his smarts to maneuver around an airtight defensive line.

Carolina Panthers Depth Chart

QB: Cam Newton
RB1: Chuba Hubbard
WR1: D.J. Moore
WR2: Robby Anderson
WR3: Terrace Marshall Jr.
TE1: Ian Thomas
TE2: Tommy Tremble

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers Daily Fantasy Picks

In this matchup, Alvin Kamara is the fantasy superstar. He averages 17.8 fantasy points per game but has struggled in his past two games after suffering from a knee injury. In his last matchup against the Panthers, he only reached 7 points but is desperate to help get his team into the playoffs, so he will be more dedicated to taking the ball to the house. Taysom Hill may be a risky pick due to his inconsistent fantasy point values, but if he is on his best game, he can lead to point values easily over 20 points. If you find yourself in a place where you need to take a risk to pull off a win, Taysom Hill may be your best shot. I suspect he will be running the ball a lot against the Panthers’ defense and may lead to running touchdowns for the quarterback.