Cat Scratch Reader
The 0-1 Carolina Panthers open as underdogs against the 1-0 Arizona Cardinals. Arizona is fresh off of beating the New Orleans Saints by one touchdown in a 20-13 Week 1 win, while the Panthers are coming from whatever it is they claim to have been doing down in Jacksonville last week.
The odds are not kind to the Panthers and they should not be expected to be. They will be underdogs in every game this season, save perhaps against the Miami Dolphins, until they pull multiple and consecutive upsets.
Panthers: +6.5 (-105)
Cardinals: -6.5 (-115)
44.5 (-115/-105)
Panthers: +250
Cardinals: -310
Remember that home-field advantage is traditionally accounted for by spotting the home team—Arizona, in this case—three points on the spread. That means Kyler Murray and company would still be favored by at least a field goal on a neutral field.
I will say that seems like a wide margin to favor the Cardinals by given their narrow win over a Saints team that is still expected to be worse than the Panthers in the long run. Of course, Bryce Young and his offense did little to support that expectation yesterday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, so maybe this is right on the money.
The above odds were current as of the writing of this post. You can take a look at—and place a bet on—live odds for this game and more here at FanDuel Sportsbook.
