Carolina Looks to Clinch No. 1 Seed in NFC

The Carolina Panthers visit the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in an AFC South showdown between two teams that have much different futures on their horizon. The current line has Carolina favored by 6.5 points on the road, with the over/under point total sitting on 47.5.

Carolina enters this game with an overall record for the season of 14-0 straight up and 10-4 against the spread. On the road, the Panthers are 7-0 SU and 5-2 ATS. Atlanta on the season has an overall record of 7-7 SU and 5-9 ATS. The Falcons at home are 3-3 SU and 2-4 ATS.

Two weeks ago, Atlanta put up little fight in its game against Carolina, but the Falcons hope to spoil the perfect season Carolina has thus far with a win the their rematch Sunday. Carolina could clinch the No. 1 seed for the NFC with a victory or tie or a loss by Arizona against Green Bay.

The past two times the Falcons have played the Panthers, Carolina has outscored Atlanta 72-3, including a rout during Week 14 of 38-0. The Panthers have had two close games in two of the past three weeks with late field goals defeating the Saints and Giants.

Atlanta a very slight chance of the postseason, but needs a win as well as help form Seattle or Minnesota just to maintain the thin chance heading into next week’s last week of the regular season.

Carolina is No. 3 in the NFL on the ground but with opponents looking first to stop the running of quarterback Cam Newton, the Panthers offense has been slowed. Newton has thrown for 18 touchdowns and 1 interception in his past 5 games.

Carolina’s defense is No. 5 versus the pass and No. 6 against the run. When they faced Atlanta, the Panthers gave up just 230 total yards while forcing four turnovers.

Matt Ryan has 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions this season. The ground game for Atlanta has gone three straight games with less than 100 yards rushing, putting more pressure on Ryan to beat the opponents secondary.

Carolina wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. has 2 touchdown catches in each of his past three games.

Carolina is leading the NFL in overall takeaways with 35, interceptions with 22 and fumble recoveries with 13.

Prediction: Carolina has much more to play for. The Falcons have a very slim chance of a playoff while Carolina is trying to wrap up home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and keep its perfect record intact. Carolina covers in this.