Vikings Panthers Line

Written by Steve Janus

Two rookie quarterbacks will battle it out this Sunday when the Carolina Panthers host the Minnesota Vikings. The Panthers snapped a 3-game losing streak with a 33-20 win over the Washington Redskins this past week. Carolina is just 2-5 overall, but have been in every game they have played. The Vikings came up short in a 27-33 loss at home to Green Bay, leaving them at 1-6 overall.

Taking a look at the week 8 NFL lines, oddsmakers currently have Carolina favored by 3-points over Minnesota with the total set at 48 points.

Minnesota Vikings:

While the Vikings came up on the short end of their game against the undefeated Packers, they played a lot closer game than what was expected. Minnesota jumped out to a 17-10 lead, but Green Bay would score 23 straight to take control of the game.

Christian Ponder opened up the game with a huge 73-yard pass to Michael Jenkins, which led to a 2-yard touchdown toss to tight end Visanthe Shiancoe. Things didn’t go all that smoothly from there. Ponder would hit Jenkins for a 24-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but finished the game just 13 of 32 for 219 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Jenkins led the way with three catches for 111 yards and Shiancoe had four for 45.

Most of the offense came from All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson, who finished with 175 yards and touchdown on 24 attempts. Peterson continues to play at an extremely high level, despite the Vikings inability to win games.

There’s a good chance Peterson will have another big day this Sunday, as the Panthers 29th ranked run defense gives up an average of 133.4 yards per game. Even with another big game from Peterson, this game is going to come down to the play of Ponder. He has to take care of the football and not allow the Panthers easy opportunities to score.

Carolina Panthers:

Keeping the Panthers and their talented rookie quarterback Cam Newton in check is no easy task. Carolina has the 5th best passing attack (288.4 ypg) and are 8th in the NFL running the football (128.1 ypg).

Newton put on another amazing performance in the Panthers win over Washington last week, throwing for 256 yards and a touchdown and rushing for another 59 yards and a score. It was the fifth time in six games where Newton rushed for at least one touchdown. The most promising sign was Newton didn’t throw an interception. He had three the previous week against Atlanta.

Newton continues to make a living throwing the ball to star wide out Steve Smith, who finished with seven catches for 143 yards against the Redskins. Smith now leads the NFL with 818 receiving yards and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down over the second half of the season.

The Panthers aren’t running the football with the same success that they have in years past, but they are doing enough on the ground to keep opposing defenses honest. Between Jonathan Stewart, DeAngelo Williams, and Newton the trio combined for 162 yards and two touchdowns last week.

Carolina may have to rely on the passing attack a bit more than they have in the past couple weeks. Minnesota comes in allowing just 87.9 yards per game on the ground, but are giving up a hefty 274.9 yards per game through the air.

Betting Trends:

Minnesota is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog of 3.5-10.0.

Carolina is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 home games.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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