Yes, the Panthers have been a dreadful bet the last few weeks but quite frankly if they can't get the job done today just shut it all down. The New York Giants are without Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard, Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney...and that's just the offense. Carolina fans praying for a bounce back week, this should be your answer.

The Panthers are 0-3 straight-up minus injured RB Christian McCaffrey, but the real culprit is the defense. Opponents in those games averaged 30.3 points, triple the amount in the first three. Help is on the way. Standout CB Stephon Gilmore, acquired from New England, makes his delayed team debut. Sack twins Haason Reddick and Brian Burns can bedevil a Giants O-line missing LT Andrew Thomas, placed on injured reserve. New York remains short on skill position players, too, a cause of its 0-3 ATS record at home.

The Panthers have scored 28 points in two of their three games without Christian McCaffrey, but those are misleading performances. Their offense has been pretty bad each of the last three weeks but scored a bunch of points down big late in the fourth quarter of those two 28-point games. I don't anticipate them needing to climb out of a big hole in this one, and while the Carolina defense has largely struggled recently after rookie corner Jaycee Horn went down, it'll have an easier test here in an injury-ravaged Giants offense. This feels like a close game where neither offense can do much and we get a 20-17 type of final either way.

Sometimes you have to think of it not as what team you're betting on, but which team you're betting against. In this case, we are betting against Carolina. The Panthers got off to a nice start but have collapsed without Christian McCaffrey, and they're in no position to be trusted as road favorites.

The Giants are one of several teams who looked absolutely terrible last week, but facing the Panthers is much different than facing the Rams. Carolina was fortunate to be in a close game late, as they were outgained by a massive 571 to 306 margin. The Panthers offense has looked lost without Christian McCaffrey, and I don't see how you can have any faith making Sam Darnold a favorite on the road against anyone right now. The Panthers defense has taken a step back since losing Jaycee Horn, and I expect the Giants offense to play better this week; Carolina has just six takeaways all year, and turnovers plus losing Kadarius Toney immediately were the biggest reasons the Giants fell apart a week ago.