Another contender that is off to a slow start as Carolina Panthers has been favored to go to the Super Bowl before this season kicked off. Now, they are sitting two games behind the Falcons and are in a must-win situation. They also don’t know if their best player is going to play in Tampa.
Cam Newton is still in concussion protocol and questionable to appear in this match. If he is unable to go, Derek Anderson will be behind the center for the Panthers. He did have that one good year in his career, but he is a veteran backup quarterback and the expectations from him are pretty low.
He did lead this Carolina team to the end zone last week when he entered the game, but he also threw two costly interceptions. Panthers were down, and he needed to make some plays but took a lot of risks, he was forced to play more aggressively. That why those interceptions happened. If he is going to start this game, Ron Rivera would probably have him just managing the game and focusing on running.
Tampa has been awful since that Week 1 victory in Atlanta. They have had some tough competition after that match, but they also had duels in which they should have done much better. They gave up 37 points to the Los Angeles Rams, and it’s just unacceptable.
Jameis Winston hasn’t been himself in the past couple of games, and he needs to step up. We think he will do that against this questionable Carolina defense.
That is why it’s so tough to pick the winner in this Monday Night Football game. If Cam plays, Carolina should be favored even if he is limited and not at 100%. But if he doesn’t play, all bets are off. The game is open for both teams and could go any direction. We will stick with Panthers to win this game 20:17 but Tampa Bay could very well grab it. Interesting one to watch.
