New Orleans at Carolina

Despite what Drew Brees says, the Saints just aint the same away from the dome. The road woes continued for New Orleans last week, as they went to St. Louis and came up on the short end of a 27-16 score. It marks the fourth straight road games the Saints have failed to top the 20-point mark. On the season, this team scores over two touchdowns less per game on the road vs. at home. So this is an easy play on Carolina, right? Not so fast. Many will look at this game and figure that if the Saints can't score on St. Louis how will they score on Carolina? Well, they got 31 against the Panthers at home two weeks ago, and while they likely won't get 31 here, do they have to? The Saints' are often considered a team that is all offense and needs to score big to win, but that has not been the case this season. New Orleans has held 10 of their 14 opponents to 20 points or less, and they are 4-3 straight-up when scoring 23 or less. Carolina is not an offensive stalwart by any means. They managed to find the end-zone just once vs. the Saints a couple of weeks ago and generated less than 250 total yards of offense. I think the Saints can go toe-to-toe on defense with the Panthers, and they have a little more on offense to get this done here. The Saints have come up huge after a loss, where they are now 25-10 ATS in their last 35, and are also 21-10 ATS in their last 31 vs. a winning team. The Saints have played five straight to the UNDER, while Carolina is a perfect 6-0 to the UNDER in their last six when following a win. Under Sean Payton, the Saints are a ridiculous 16-4 ATS following a road loss. I look for the Saints to bow their backs after last week's embarrassment. Take the Saints and the UNDER in this one.