Thursday Night Football: Falcons-Panthers Week 8 odds, predictions, betting preview
The 2020 NFL regular-season rolls on with Thursday Night Football, and BetRivers.com has the latest Falcons-Panthers Week 8 odds live right now. The NFC South showdown is the first divisional rematch of the season, and that familiarity could manifest itself in even more points that you were expecting.
Place your sport bets either on the Falcons or Panthers at BetRivers.com
Rob Dauster is here to examine the Falcons-Panthers Week 8 odds, the trends worth backing, and the injuries worth paying attention to.
BetRivers.com has a wide variety of Thursday Night Football specials, including a special first half insurance promotion that will cover you up to $50 on the first TD scorer of the game. If anyone but your pick scores, you get your bet back, up to $50.
But before we get to the Panthers-Falcons Week 8 odds, take a look at our Thursday BetRivers.com Specials:
- D.J. Moore Over 68.5 Rec. YDs & Panthers win. (+225)
- Robby Anderson to lead game in Rec. YDs: Yes (+275), No (-375)
- Mike Davis more Rec. YDs than Falcons first-half points: Yes (-500), No (+350)
- Todd Gurley more Rush attempts than Panthers total points: Yes (+600), No (-1000)
- Younghoe Koo to make a FG further than the longest run or pass completion: Yes (+125), No (-155)
- Matt Ryan to have a passer rating of 110 or higher (+150)
- Julio Jones and Curtis Samuel both record Over 54.5 Rec. YDs (+225)
- Teddy Bridgewater to record 1+ Rush TD and 1+ Pass TD (+390)
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Falcons-Panthers Week 7 Odds
- Week 8: 8:20 p.m. ET (NFLN/FOX)
- Moneyline: Panthers -125, Falcons +110
- Spread: Panthers -2
- Over/Under: 51.5 points
- Implied Score: Panthers 26.5, Falcons 24
Click here for the full list of Falcons-Panthers Week 8 odds.
If you were to force me to be on a side here, it would probably be Carolina. The Panthers are, I think, a better team, and the fact that they are only favored by 2.5 points at home tells me that they are being valued as the slightly worse team in this spot.
The Falcons are 1-6. They’re blown lead after lead this season. I’m not gonna be the guy that watches a 14 point lead melt away only to lose on a field goal in overtime. Couldn’t be me.
Where I want my money is on the over. Now, this line has started to tick upwards. It opened at 49, which is a key number, so keep that in mind. But I think that it’s worth noting here that, in Week 5, when these two teams faced off, the total was 53.5. Now, that game went under, but there are a couple of things to account for:
- Julio Jones did not play. According to my sources, Julio Jones is good at football. If you can confirm my reporting on Julio Jones being good at football, let me know.
- Christian McCaffery may be back for the Panthers. It’s unclear as of this writing whether or not he’ll be active, and we’ll never know just how healthy he actually is, but if it’s an ankle injury — a pain management thing — they can shoot him up with some high-level drugs and make that foot feel like new.
Those are some talented playmakers coming back into the fold in a game where the two defenses are a trainwreck. The Panthers have the fewest sacks and quarterback pressures in the NFL, which means Matt Ryan will have all day to air the ball out. Atlanta, on the other hand, ranks 25th in the NFL in defense DVOA and, according to SHARP Football Stats, have allowed the second-most pass plays this season. That’s partially due to the fact that they cannot get pressure on the QB. Teddy Bridgewater has one of the lowest passer ratings against pressure in the NFL. When given time, he has Robby Anderson, D.J. Moore, Curtis Samuel and now McCaffery to throw the ball to.
My guess?
He’ll have time.
Matt Ryan will have time.
And this game will soar over the total.
