The Green Bay Packers are three-point road dogs against the Carolina Panthers. However, cheeseheads who bet on NFL should not give up hope just yet. When the Green and Gold visit the Panther Blue, it’ll mark the return of Aaron Rodgers. He was out for eight weeks with a broken collarbone. Now, he’s not the Messiah, but he is a very talented QB. “I’m not coming back to save this team,” Rodgers said. “I’m coming back to play quarterback the way I know how to play it and hopefully we all raise the level of our play collectively and find a way to win these three games.”
.@rcobb18 talks about getting @AaronRodgers12 back on the field + previews #GBvsCAR
?: https://t.co/Z8AHMqF6xT#GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/m4CKVntCZ2
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 14, 2017
The Green and Gold visit the Panther Blue
- Date: Sunday, 17th December
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: Bank of America Stadium
Sportsbook online American football betting odds:
Packers +3 (-120) 47 (-110) +125
Panthers -3 (EV) 47 (-110) -145
More Rodgers, more over for the Packs?
We don’t know whether Rodgers is going to save the Packers. We know, however, that he can save them. He can save them because the Packers went the extra mile (or, in this context, the extra yard) and won their last two games. It took them back-to-back overtime games but they done did it. It was against the Bucs and Browns, yes, but the Packers had to start Brett Hundley, so it was almost a level playing field. “I think our football has done an excellent job of finding different ways to win,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “We’re not going to go to Carolina with a bunch of false confidence. We understand the impact that Aaron Rodgers makes for our football team and, hell, the impact that he’d make for anybody’s football team.”
The Packers went 3-4 SU and 4-3 ATS with Hundley. Moreover, the total went over in five of those seven games. Taking it as read that Rodgers will boost the offensive, it is not unreasonable for people who bet on NFL to believe that the total will go over again this Sunday. Especially considering the over is 4-0 in the Panthers’ last four.
Nothing like grass for the Panthers to cover
One of the poignant questions surrounding Rodgers’s return is one mankind has been asking itself time out of mind. How do you get it off? Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, however, is prepared for Rodgers to be at the top of his game. “Aaron Rodgers is one of those guys that probably really doesn’t need a lot of practice,” Rivera said. “And knowing Aaron Rodgers, he’s probably been throwing the ball for four, five weeks already anyways. So, I mean, seriously, I’m just trying to be honest about how I feel who this young man is. I think he’s one of the elite guys. We know he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I’m just being honest. I expect this guy to be on his game, and we have to approach it that way.”
Carolina is 4-0 in its last four games on grass. The Panthers also are 4-1 ATS in their last five on the road, 25-10 ATS in their last 35 in December, 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 in Week 15, and 5-1 ATS in their last six overall.