Game Time: 1:00 PM EDT,  Sunday, September 12th, 2021

Venue:  Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Where to Watch: CBS

 

FanDuel: Carolina -5; O/U 45.5 points.  (1 point difference in O/U) 

BetMGM: Carolina -5; O/U: 44.5 points.

PointsBet:  Carolina -5; O/U 44.5 points.  

New York Jets: 0-0; First game of the season. It’s time to love football and make some money!

Carolina Panthers: 0-0; First game of the season.  Get these picks right and build that roll!

 

Ben Burns WON BIG in the preseason, as per usual. His two biggest plays involved the Patriots and the Dolphins.  Ben’s picks are available right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.

 

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The Jets were 2-14 in the 2020 season. 1-7 at home, 1-7 on the road.  The AFC East has the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots.  These teams have held the Jets down for a decade… and will until some major leaps forward are made.

 

The Panthers were 5-11 in 2020.  2-6 at home, 3-5 on the road.  The NFC South has the Atlanta Falcons, the Tampas Bay Buccaneers, and the New Orleans Saints.  They were up against a tall order to begin with… thank goodness the Falcons were also awful.

The Jets started to view taking Sam Darnold in the top five in the draft as a mistake.  They had to then prove to the world that they could fix their mistakes.  So, they took Rookie Zach Wilson with the 2nd overall pick.  Got him a new coach in Robert Saleh, and opened the wallet in free agency to fill every weak spot on the roster.  After a great preseason… Zach was installed as the starter. The Jets improved the offensive line, the defense, and the tight end position. We can’t get our hopes up too high, this is the Jets.  They finished their preseason in a 31-31 tie with the Philadelphia Eagles (an NFC softty)... but that was the preseason schedule.  The J-E-T-S fans are dreaming of a Zach Wilson that brings them to Super Bowl after Super Bowl… like that stinking Tom Brady!... but a 6-11 NFL season record would be a giant leap forward.  They will stay the underdog for now.

For new quarterback Sam Darnold a Week 1 matchup with the Jets could be the sweet revenge every person dreams of getting against an employer that didn’t see their worth. We all know Sam’s story, a USC quarterback taken 3rd in the NFL draft. His 3 seasons with the NY Jets were marred by Mononucleosis, a Covid-19 shortened season, and simply playing for the Jets!  Sam is now known as a big kid capable of throwing for deep touchdowns, but more often throwing for deep interceptions. He took lumps to his reputation in all the NFL games he has appeared in so far.  Still,, when Sam looks in the mirror he has to ask himself “why did the Jets commit 100 million in free agency after they gave up on me?”... and then he drops into a low, almost Batman voice and says “I will make them pay”.  Sam went 19-25 in the final preseason game for 2 touchdowns and NO interceptions.  He will be ready to do the same against his former team… but will it be enough?  Sam will have a veteran star in Christian McCaffrey to hand the ball off to a solid rushing game… If Christain is healthy than Sam will only need to play his role to make the Panthers’ offense come alive. Receiver Robby Anderson (Darnold’s former teammate) will need to step up.. Alongside DJ Moore to make Sam’s revenge dreams come true.

 

The Jets spent Woody Johnson’s money like a Vegas first timer who hasn’t done any homework.  They improved the Defense mightily…. And then found out they threw a lot of that money away.  They gave total stud Defensive End Carl Lawson a 3 year 45 million dollar free agent deal… he was going to supply punishment to every team that focused too much on absolute defensive stud Quinnen Williams.  The opponent's offense would have no response capable of handling these two monsters coming through different holes all day long.  Carl was going to lead the league in sacks… that's a hypothetical promise.  Then Carl tore his ACL  in meaningless preseason PRACTICE against the Green Bay Packers.  Aaron Rodgers was looking on… the Jets weren’t because of the tears blocking their view.  The Jets defense will be improved from last season but they will never be contenders until Carl is back and healthy.

 

The Panthers defense is wondering if they are a top ten unit this season.  They took cornerback Jaycee Horn in the draft’s first round to add to safety Jeremy Chinn.  Then they went all in at cornerback signing veterans Aj Boye and Rashaan Melvin.  Then to improve on last season’s 21st ranking in pass rush they signed Hasaan Reddick who had 12.5 sacks and 16 QB hits with the Arizona Cardinals in 2020.  That’s a lot of improvement for a team that is looking to move up in the world.  They are favored because they are the home team…. But they are looking for a winning regular season record.

 

Our prediction for Sunday September 12th is Jets 24 - Panthers 17.   

 

That's right we are giving the Jets the upset.  McCaffrey isn’t fully without rust and Darnold will choke with emotion against his former team.  Quinnen Willams will take the next step toward looking like Aaron Donald.

 

 

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The Jets beat the spread in 6 of 16 games last season.

Only 7 Jets games went Over last year.

The Panthers were 9-7 against the spread last year.

The Panthers only hit the Over in 7 of 16 games last season.

 

 

Jets:  Carl Lawson DE, Out for Season

Panthers:  Nothing major reported.

 

 

Jets:  Zach Wilson:  It’s all riding on Zach.  Can he keep showing us what he did in the preseason or will he get his head handed to him in regular season speed in a big boy league.  The perfect team for this experiment is the Carolina Panthers.

 

Panthers:  If you aren’t watching Sam Darnold on every snap you shouldn’t watch.  This game is a career definer.  If Sam shows what he promised when he entered the league than the jets are suckers who should have taken Atlanta’s Tight End…. if not, the Panthers front office starts evaluating Spencer Rattler.

"We embrace the urgency at which everybody wants to win, but at the same time that can't affect your decision-making for the long haul of the goal of winning championships for extended periods of time,"  - Robert Saleh,  Saying what he needs to to take the pressure off of winning while coaching the Jets.  Touche Robert touche.

 

“I hope not”- Christian McCaffrey talking about if he’ll be watching his stats for another 1000 yard rushing and 1000 yard receiving season with the extra game.  Apparently he is all about winning.  Someone should tell him Hall of Famers are made from those stats. 

 

 

Jets:  Qb Zach Wilson; RB Michael Carter; WR Corey Davis; WR Keelan Cole; WR Braxton Berrios; TE Chris Herndon; Slot Receiver Jamison Crowder

Panthers: QB Sam Darnold; RB Christain McCaffrey; WR Robby Anderson; WR DJ Moore; WR Terrance Marshall; TE Dan Arnold

I’m not going to list the 2020 statistical leaders for either of these teams.  They are both drastically revamped.  We will wait for the numbers from this season to come rolling in.  You can count on that Zach Wilson will be compared to Sam Darnold for the next 3-5 season at least… but then one of them will disappear into obscurity and we won’t worry about that comparison anymore.

 

 

Coach:

Jets:  Robert Saleh,  First year.  Can he bring San Francisco 49’ers winning ways to the Jets?

 

 

Partly Cloudy, high of 89*, humidity 45%, wind 8 mph,... buy some Dogecoin.