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Jeremy Perry
Raiders vs. Panthers Point Spread: NFL Week 1 Odds, Prediction
Opening week will be much different this season due to the NFL not having preseason games heading into the season. It has the chance to make things very difficult for rookies to learn their team’s systems or even with free agents adjusting to their new environment. That’s especially true for the Las Vegas Raiders and the Carolina Panthers, the former who is a team looking to take the next step in their growth and the latter, who is trying to rebuild. So how will these teams look in Week 1?
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The under is 5-0 in the Raiders last five road games and 7-1-1 in their last nine coming in as the road favorite. It is also 6-1 in their last seven games overall. However, the Raiders have been 0-3-1 ATS when coming in as the road favorite in their last four games.
The Panthers have been cold ATS as of late. They are 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games overall and 0-3-1 ATS in their last four games as the home underdog. On the other hand, the over is 5-1 in the Panthers last six games overall and 4-0 in their last four games on grass.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders have made a number of interesting moves throughout the offseason and are prepared to see how they work out against the Panthers. They recently drafted wide receiver Henry Ruggs to help improve an offense that is slowly gaining more firepower.
Last season, their offense was controlled by longtime quarterback Derek Carr but with help from young running back Josh Jacobs and young tight end Darren Waller. Both had huge seasons and are looking to build upon that with reinforcements on the way. Waller was the main target throughout the passing game but now there is Ruggs as well as Hunter Renfrow and Bryan Edwards. With those weapons on offense, it is looking like they will be able to score much more effectively heading into this season. However, there is still many questions about their defense as they don’t have much talent on that side of the ball.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are in the midst of a full rebuild as last year’s head coach (Ron Rivera) and quarterback (Cam Newton) are gone. They’ve gone in a new direction with Matt Rhule on the sidelines and Teddy Bridgewater under center. They were able to sign receiver Robby Anderson to go along with McCaffrey and D.J. Moore. Their offense is looking ready to improve after a very bad scoring season last year. Their only positive on the offensive side was McCaffrey’s dominance.
The Panthers also had one of the worst defenses in the league, but they attempted to fix that by spending numerous draft picks on the defensive side of the ball. One area that will greatly improve this season should be their defensive line. They made multiple draft picks to bolster their line including Derrick Brown and Yetur Gross-Matos. If their young players are able to perform at expectations right away, then this team will be much improved and could be a surprise in Week 1. Unfortunately, there will not be preseason games, so the young guys will have to learn fast if they want to beat an above average Raiders team.
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