The Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers tangle at the Bank of America Stadium in this Week 12 matchup on Sunday 11/25/18.
The dangerous Seahawks are trying to find their way back to the playoff race while the Panthers saw their playoff hopes dashed after back to back losses. With the season breezing by, both teams try to get an important win against each other.
After a slow start, the Seattle Seahawks have dug themselves out of the grave and have their eyes set on the postseason. But having the smallest chance to win their division, Seattle is making a run at a Wild Card spot and when we mean run, we mean it literally. The Seahawks have the best running game in the NFL at 154.3 rushing yards per game. They also surrender the 7th fewest rushing yards per game on the road at 97.7.
But while their running defense has been stout with Chris Carson running for 580 yards, there is no doubt that the star of the offense is still quarterback Russell Wilson who has thrown multiple touchdowns in six straight games and has an NFL high ratio of 23 touchdowns to 5 interceptions.
The Carolina Panthers enter this game coming off two straight losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions. Overall, the Panthers have split their last six games and they have fallen out of the race for the NFC South with New Orleans running away with their division. Now they face a tough Seattle Seahawks squad that is aching to get over the .500 mark in the team standings.
Just like his counterpart in this game, Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton is having a very good season with 2,443 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, 6 interceptions and a 68.4 percent passing completion. Newton has thrown two or more touchdowns in each of his last nine game played for Carolina. One thing going for Newton and the Panthers is the fact that they are 6-0 at home this season and they have scored an average of 32.6 points in their last five home games.
The Seahawks are 5-3 SU in their last 8 games played and 8-4 SU in their last 12 games on the road. The Panthers are 5-3 SU in their last 8 games played and 5-0 SU in their last five games at home. Head to head, the Seahawks are 7-3 SU in their last 10 meetings and are 3-1 SU in their last four road games against Carolina.
Given their strength, I expect the Seahawks to come out and try to control the ball with their running game and wear down the Carolina defense while keeping the Panthers off the field. This should be a hard fought game played with a playoff intensity and it could very well go down to a late field goal by either team.
All of Seattle’s losses this season were decided by one score and they have played well in Carolina historically. But the Panthers have also been rock solid at home since last season. Honestly, I’m having a tough time picking as I like both teams here and both do have a real shot at winning this game. I’d prefer betting on the spread but if forced to pick a winner here, I’d go with the home team. We’re picking the Carolina Panthers to beat the Seattle Seahawks on 11/25/18.
Seattle is 4-1-1 ATS in their last six games played and are 3-2-1 ATS in six road games this season. Carolina is 5-5 ATS in 10 games played this season and are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games. Head to head, the Panthers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games against the Seahawks and are also 4-2 ATS in their last six home games against Seattle.
It has been home sweet home for Carolina who are 10-0 SU and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 home games played. But as the betting lines say, this should be a close game with playoff intensity written all over it. Personally, the winner of this game is a toss-up but as for the spread, the Seahawks should cover as I expect this to go down the wire and be decided by a field goal at the most. The Seahawks five losses this season have been decided by one score and the team is 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 games as underdogs by at least three points. I’ll take the plus points here. Prediction: Seahawks +3.5 (-120)
The under is 6-3 in Seattle’s last nine games played and the under has also hit in four out of the Seahawks’ last five road games. On the other hand, the over is 6-3 in Carolina’s last nine games and the total has gone over in four out of the last five home games of the Panthers. Head to head, the total has gone over in 4 out of their last 5 meetings but the under is 5-1 in Carolina’s last six home games against Seattle.
The total has gone over in each of the last four games between these two teams with an average score of 50 points. The Seahawks’ strength lies in its running game which leads the NFL and they average the sixth fewest passing yards in the league as well. As I said earlier, I think this is a playoff type of game – close and low scoring. Prediction: Under 46.5 -113
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