Las Vegas at Carolina

It's Week 1, which means the defenses should be ahead of many offenses. And this season it's even more challenging for offenses to develop cohesion as preseason was canceled. The Las Vegas Raiders are still rebuilding on an offense that is short on speed and playmakers, finishing #24 in points in 2019. The offense won't have to score as much, however, as they did a very good job in improving the defensive line and secondary to compliment some budding young talent in DEs Clelin Ferrell and Maxx Crosby. Of the 13 players signed in free agency, seven were on defense, as was the largest chunk of their salary cap space. The Raiders are 23-9 UNDER the total on natural grass, 7-1-1 UNDER as road chalk, while six of their last eight have gone UNDER in Week 1. Carolina doesn't scare anyone on offense. The players will be learning a new playbook under first-year coach Matt Rhule as he is working with newcomer QB Teddy Bridgewater. The offensive line was bad last year, and they did almost nothing to address it. The Panthers chose seven defensive players in the draft, none on offense! The Raiders should have some success running the football against a weak Carolina D-line, which will mean long drives that chew up the clock. All of which means look for more punts and field goals than TDs. Play this game to stay UNDER the total.