2017 · Week 3 · Division

Final

Saints

New Orleans

QB Drew Brees

34·13

Panthers

Carolina

QB Cam Newton

Bank of America Stadium · outdoors · grass · 82°F · wind 6mph

Closing spread

CAR -5.5

Total

46.5

Model margin

+0.3est.

CAR perspective

Push chance

None

half-point line — cannot push

Win probability

  • Panthers
  • Saints

How each play moved the game.

Panthers winsSaints wins

Matchup

Where the edges are

Season-long league percentiles for both sides, mirrored. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge.

Saintsedge mapPanthers
  • +0.092EPA / play-0.018
  • 45.3%Success rate41.3%
  • +0.140EPA / dropback+0.040
  • +0.026EPA / rush-0.096
  • 12.4%Explosive rate8.9%
  • +4.74CPOE-2.85
  • 38.5%Third-down rate43.2%
  • 65.9%Red-zone TD rate55.8%
  • 2.37Points / drive1.87
  • 1.6%Turnover rate2.0%

Bar length is league percentile, already oriented so longer is better. The saturated side of a lopsided row holds the edge; rows within ~12 points are washed as even.

The rivalry

NO lead 31–24 since 1999

NO have won 2 straight. Meetings average 44.3 points. CAR are 28-26-1 ATS in the series.

Previous meetings
SeasonMatchupScoreWinner
2025 · W15CAR @ NO1720NO
2025 · W10NO @ CAR177NO
2024 · W9NO @ CAR2223CAR
2024 · W1CAR @ NO1047NO
2023 · W14CAR @ NO628NO
2023 · W2NO @ CAR2017NO
2022 · W18CAR @ NO107CAR
2022 · W3NO @ CAR1422CAR

Box score

Individual performances

Saints

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Drew Brees22/2922030

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Mark Ingram14564.00
Alvin Kamara23718.51
Adrian Peterson9333.70
Ted Ginn11515.00
Tommylee Lewis188.00

Panthers

Passing

PlayerC/AttYdsTDINT
Cam Newton17/2616703
Derek Anderson2/71700

Rushing

PlayerCarYdsAvgTD
Jonathan Stewart12574.80
Curtis Samuel13131.00
Cam Newton3165.31
Christian McCaffrey4164.00
Fozzy Whittaker2126.00

Where this game is likely to land

  • Model
  • Smooth (normal)
  • Betting line

Probability of each final margin. Football scoring clusters — the spikes at 3 and 7 are real, and a smooth model misses them.

line +5.54.4%2.9%7.3%7.4%3.0%4.5%2.7%

Positive margins favour Panthers; negative favour Saints.

Half-point at risk

2.95%

outcomes that flip if the line moves 0.5

Model home win

50.0%

Expected total

46.1est.

Model

Where the number comes from

Each component is additive, in points of expected margin.

  • Team ratings (opponent-adjusted EPA)-1.40
  • Home-field advantage+1.74
  • Quarterback adjustment0.00
  • Rest differential0.00
  • Expected margin+0.34