Underachievers Set to Battle on Monday Night

Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

The Carolina Panthers-Philadelphia Eagles Monday night matchup was supposed to be one of the sexiest showdowns that Week 12 had to offer at the onset of the season.  Though, that kind of thinking has proved to be shockingly wrong.

At 3-7, the Eagles are only a shell of what they were anticipated to be.  Players are already giving up on coach Andy Reid, who is expected to be fired at the end of the season, and already making offseason vacation plans.  The offensive line is atrocious.  Quarterback Michael Vick has endured knock down after knock down due to his ill-functioning line and playmakers LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson haven’t been given enough time to get open.

On Monday night, both McCoy and Vick will be watching from the sidelines due to prolonged concussion symptoms.  Reid will now have to rely on backup quarterback Nick Foles, who has thrown for a NFL-worst 7.2 total quarterback rating.  And with a meager offensive line, it will once again be a long day for Foles in his young career.

Meanwhile, the Panthers aren’t much better.  They are currently standing at an NFC-worst 2-8 on the season and the once-mighty Superman has turned back into a sophomore slumping Cam Newton.

So what can we expect from this matchup?

It won’t be pretty.

The Panthers have the edge, with a -3 point advantage heading into Monday’s head-to-head and it looks like they could very well run away with this one.

There’s not much of a chance for Foles to excel in his second start of the season.  Especially with an inept offensive line protecting his blindside.  If the Eagles plan to get the rookie quarterback going, they’ll have to put Foles on the move and out of the pocket so he has a chance to connect on a few downfield passes.  But scoring is a different conversation.

Chances are they don’t have the means or the will to score above their team-best 24 point game (Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens) or their season average 16.2 points per contest.  So keep that in mind when betting the over/under, which just so happens to be 40.5, according to ESPN Insider’s Ben Fawkes.

Meanwhile, the Panthers should expect a decent uptick in their offensive production due entirely on the fact that the Eagles aren’t going to go anywhere on offense.  But the Panthers have also been a victim of the one of the worst schedules in the league.  All eight of their losses have come from teams with winning records.

To sum up, the Panthers aren’t great, but the Eagles are much worse.  Look for another Philadelphia collapse in this Monday night showdown.