Carolina Panthers:

Unbeaten Carolina is just a 3½ point favorite against a struggling Saints defense in New Orleans; Miami is favored by 6½ (granted, it is against the Ravens); Minnesota is a 1½ point home underdog against Seattle; and Dallas was listed as a three-point road favorite at Washington – though to be fair, this was prior to Tony Romo’s injury on Thanksgiving Day. It is also interesting to note that there are more favorites playing on the road (nine) than home favorites (just six).

As is what seems to be the case every year, a Thanksgiving Day game involving the Detroit Lions is seemingly in place to simply make the following games look that much better

While Rex Ryan is proving he can dish out but can’t take it in anticipation for Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots, Vegas has published their early advanced ‘look ahead’ lines for NFL week 12. On Thursday the Westgate in Las Vegas listed the Pats as 5½ point road favorites for next Sunday night’s game against the Broncos at Mile High in Denver. This week the Broncos are in Chicago to face the 4-5 Bears.

After an off-season where many in the media predicted the Colts would play in (if not win) the Super Bowl, Indy has underachieved dramatically. The Colts have lost three games that they were favored to win and enter this game on a two-game losing streak.

Even though the Patriots are not playing, Sunday looks to be a very good day for watching the NFL. The early CBS game in Boston as well as most of the U.S. has Ben Roethlisberger returning to the field after being shelved for five weeks with a knee injury as the Steelers host the undefeated Bengals in a key AFC game.

The New England Patriots have opened up as 10½ point favorites in early ‘look-ahead’ advanced lines posted by the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook for NFL week eight. The AFC East rivals will kick off next week’s league action next Thursday in Foxboro. This weekend in early afternoon action the 5-0 Pats host the 4-1 Jets, while 2-3 Miami hosts 2-4 Houston; both of those games start at 1:00 pm eastern time.

Other than the Pats-Fins of course, the best game should be between the undefeated Packers and Broncos on Sunday night; other good matchups include the Bengals at Steelers in an early afternoon game, and Indy at Carolina on Monday night.

Patriots fullback James Develin may have been carted off the field Friday night down in Carolina, but it sounds like he might not be ruling out playing in 2015.

The Patriots had another come-from-behind win in their third preseason game as Stephen Gostkowski boomed a 53-yard field goal with six minutes to go.

With a tune-up for the regular season, the Patriots and Panthers should play their starters for the first half at least as they prep for the 2015 opener

Things are getting pretty ugly in Carolina after Panthers defensive lineman Chris Jenkins called out his football team on Sunday after they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Led by three interceptions, the Patriot defense suffocated the Carolina Panthers, while third string quarterback Tom Brady tossed a touchdown pass to David Patten, leading the Patriots to a 23-8 exhibition win Saturday night.

The Patriots defense put up yet another great performance as New England beat up on the Carolina Panthers 23-8 on Saturday night.

This is a preview of a preview since these teams will meet again for real when the second week of the season (September 16) arrives.