Saints vs Panthers Prediction and Odds for Week 3

The New Orleans Saints kick off the 2022 regular season against all three of their divisional foes, facing the Falcons in Week 1 (and winning), the Buccaneers in Week 2 (and losing), and the Panthers in Week 3.

So far, the Saints have been a rollercoaster of a team with the offense only playing well in one quarter of action. That, of course, was in the fourth quarter against the Falcons where they came from behind and won the game despite trailing by as much as 16 minutes into the fourth quarter.

This week, the Saints will face a Panthers team desperate for a win. If Carolina does manage to beat the Saints, they'd both be 1-2 on the year and potentially in the cellar of the division depending on what Atlanta does (they're also 0-2 like the Panthers).

New Orleans is 1-1 and just a game behind the Bucs after losing to them in Week 2. This game is an important one for the black and gold if they want to stay competitive in the NFC South and not settle for a Wild Card spot in the playoffs, though right now, after Sunday's game, no member of this team should be talking about the playoffs. There's still a lot of work to do.

Saints vs Panthers Odds Week 3

FanDuel has the Saints as 3-point favorites in Carolina, meaning they'd be 6-point favorites if this game was being played in the Superdome. The moneyline for NOLA is set at -156 while it's set at +132 for the Panthers. The over/under sits at 40.5 points.

As Joe Summers notes, the Panthers haven't covered the spread in nine straight games and he doesn't have much faith in them to do so now. The Panthers have struggled mightily under Baker Mayfield so far and going against the Saints' defense is no joke.

Saints vs Panthers Prediction Week 3

The Saints held Tom Brady and the Bucs' so-called "explosive" offense to just three points for most of the game. It wasn't until an array of bad penalties on the Saints gave the Bucs some momentum and allowed them to take the lead and eventually win the game.

With Mayfield making his third start for the Panthers on Sunday and struggling to get them a win in two tries, he'll be desperate to make something happen. The Saints D improved significantly between Week 1 and Week 2 and I'm excited to see what Ryan Nielsen and Kris Richard dial up for the defense this week.

Let's give the Saints a 24-14 victory in Charlotte.