Saints vs. Panthers: Who are the experts picking in Week 2?

The New Orleans Saints face the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at noon and both teams hope to move to 2-0 after winning in Week 1.

As of now, the good guys are 3.5-point favorites over the home-team Panthers, per WynnBET. This makes perfect sense considering the beatdown NOLA put down on the Packers on Sunday, winning 38-3 in shocking fashion.

While Carolina is also 1-0, they beat the Jets. That’s nowhere near as impressive as knocking off the Packers, who made it to the NFC Championship Game a season ago.

Experts weren’t on New Orleans’ side last week when it came to picking the game, but will they be now that they’re facing an “easier” opponent? Let’s take a look at how the experts see this game going down.

Saints vs. Panthers – Experts Picks

Tom Fornelli (CBS Sports) – Saints 30, Panthers 24

"What the Saints offense did last week in Green Bay was ridiculous and not sustainable. Like, you have to try very hard to score 38 points with only 322 yards of offense. Still, while I don’t think Jameis Winston will toss five touchdowns per game, I think this Saints offense will continue playing well overall. There are a lot of good parts, and Sean Payton has proven to be a good play-caller with and without Drew Brees. So I expect the Saints will be able to move the ball on the road in Carolina."

Gregg Rosenthal (NFL.com)  – Saints 24, Panthers 20

"This game features the league’s best two running backs and two quarterbacks I’m fascinated to see moving forward. Both defenses figure to generate pressure, but ultimately, I have more trust in the ability of Jameis Winston and the Saints’ offensive line to handle it."

Bleacher Report – Saints 24, Panthers 21

The Saints were picked to win by all three outlets included here and why wouldn’t they be after the butt whooping they served Green Bay on Sunday? While I also think New Orleans will beat the Panthers, it’s not going to be the cakewalk that they had on Sunday.

This should be a really good game between two division rivals. Carolina might not be a contender this year, but they’re an interesting team. They have Christian McCaffrey, who is always a threat to take over a game and that’s who the Saints need to zero in on when they take the field for their second game of the 2021 season.

I said last week that if the Saints did pull out a win, a lot of people would be eating their words and that definitely was the theme of these picks this week. Even with that being the case, people don’t still seem entirely convinced that this team was as good as they looked in that 38-3 routing of the Cheeseheads.

If New Orleans curb-stomps the Panthers, people probably still won’t give them their due diligence due to the level of their opponent but that shouldn’t matter. Go out there and show that Week 1 wasn’t an anomaly.