The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Panthers vs. Saints Week 10 matchup.
Find a breakdown of every Week 10 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Carolina | Rank | @ | New Orleans | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | Spread | -1.5 | ||
| 23.0 | Implied Total | 24.5 | ||
| 24.9 | 11 | Points/Gm | 23.1 | 15 |
| 27.4 | 28 | Points All./Gm | 27.0 | 27 |
| 66.0 | 5 | Plays/Gm | 66.4 | 4 |
| 65.1 | 25 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 65.1 | 25 |
| 5.5 | 12 | Off. Yards/Play | 4.9 | 24 |
| 5.3 | 16 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 26 |
| 35.8% | 32 | Rush% | 38.2% | 27 |
| 64.2% | 1 | Pass% | 61.8% | 6 |
| 44.3% | 20 | Opp. Rush % | 45.5% | 23 |
| 55.7% | 13 | Opp. Pass % | 54.5% | 10 |
- Carolina allows 2.33 points per drive on defense, 27th in the league.
- New Orleans allows 2.40 points per drive, 28th.
- The Saints have led for 11.5% of their offensive plays, 31st in the league.
- The Saints are 0-5 against the spread at home this season (tied for the worst mark in the league) and 3-0 ATS on the road.
- The Panthers have 11 more plays of 20-plus yards than their opponents this season, 3rd in the NFL.
- The Saints average 2.9 plays of 20-plus yards per game, 25th in the league.
- Carolina is tied for the 2nd-worst sack differential (-14).
- The Panthers have a sack on a league-low 4.3% of opponent dropbacks.
- 58.9% of New Orleans' first downs come on early downs, 30th in the league.
- The Saints lead the league in fourth down conversions (12) and are second in conversion rate on fourth down (80%).
- The Saints are a league-best 15 of 15 in touchdown rate on goal-to-go possessions.
Trust = spike production for that player
Panthers vs. Saints Fantasy Quarterback Preview
Bryce Young
Young had a strong bounce-back game on Sunday in a surprising spot.
He completed a season-high 71.8% of his passes (28 of 39) for 276 yards (7.1 Y/A) with 3 touchdowns against the Broncos.
Young scored 20.3 standard points after 15.8 total the previous two games against the Bucs and Packers.
I was wavering on this offense finally running out of steam based on the state of the offensive line.
On Sunday, Young was pressured on 34.9% of his dropbacks, his second-lowest rate of the season.
Carolina ran their quickest passing game of the season to combat their issues up front.
Young averaged 2.56 seconds from the snap to throw, his fastest of the season.
51.2% of his passes came within 2.5 seconds of the snaps, his highest rate this season.
Usually when you see an approach like this, downfield passing is sacrificed, but Young averaged 8.3 air yards per attempt (his highest since Week 6), and he still threw 41.7% of his passes 10 or more yards downfield, his third-highest rate this season.
In the previous two games, Young threw only 16.1% and 26.1% of his passes 10 or more yards downfield.
The Panthers also played bigger, something we have seen other offenses do when struggling across the offensive line.
Carolina ran 12 personnel on 35.5% of their plays (2nd-highest rate this year) and 13 personnel on 17.7% of their plays (also 2nd highest).
Whether game-plan specific based on facing Denver or part of calibrating their issues up front, those rates led to Young throwing a season-high 48.6% of his passes to tight ends.
Four of the five offensive linemen still allowed multiple pressures, so I am not ready to call this a complete fix until we see consistency, but the top-down performance of this offense has shown growth and upside.
Young has multiple touchdowns in five of his eight games.
Young has had a four-game run facing the Eagles, Bucs, Packers, and Broncos, with two QB1 weeks in that stretch.
The Panthers lead the NFL in pass rate, and he comes up for air here against a New Orleans defense we have targeted all season.
Even if pricing in some volatility for Young, he is a matchup-based option on the QB1/QB2 line.
I would consider him as a 1QB streamer if he were let go and you were starting Caleb Williams, but this is a great week of matchups for regular starters to keep him more in the QB2 range with upside.
New Orleans is 26th in passing points allowed (15.9 per game), allowing a 65.5% completion rate (23rd), 7.8 yards per pass attempt (24th), and a 5% touchdown rate (20th).
The Saints have 13 sacks over their past three games, so they could be a nuisance if the protection issues crop back up.
Tyler Shough
Shough completed 21 of 35 passes (60%) for 265 yards (7.6 Y/A) with a touchdown through the air on Sunday in an overtime win against the Browns.
He threw his touchdown pass in overtime.
Shough also rushed for a season-high 51 yards.
Shough has been a lot like Young: there has been a lot of recent unpredictability, but also upside.
He has five QB1 scoring weeks but has only thrown multiple touchdown passes in one of his past five games.
Shough is a boom-or-bust QB2.
This game has the potential to be a fun game environment I want to take some bites at in DFS, but also a wide range of outcomes where there is plenty of floor potential.
Carolina has allowed back-to-back QB1 scoring weeks to Jordan Love (21.5 points) and Bo Nix (15.7 points).
They have allowed only 7.0 yards and 6.4 yards per pass attempt in those games, but five touchdown passes.
Carolina did not make any wholesale changes in Todd Wash's first game as defensive coordinator.
They still played a high rate of single-high and Cover 3 in line with their season averages.
The only note was matching a season-low 23.7% blitz rate.
Dave Canales said they will evaluate the potential returns of Jaycee Horn and/or Mike Jackson this week, something we will track coming into Sunday.
When those guys come back, we will get a better gauge on whether Wash will change things.
Overall, Carolina has allowed 13.9 passing points per game (13th), 6.4 yards per pass attempt (5th), and a 63.3% completion rate (13th).
Panthers vs. Saints Fantasy Running Back Preview
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More Week 10 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Week 10 NFL Games | Time |
|---|---|
| Commanders @ Giants | Thursday Night Football |
| Patriots vs. Lions | Sunday -- 9:30 a.m. ET |
| Chiefs @ Falcons | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Texans @ Browns | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Vikings @ Packers | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Jaguars @ Titans | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Dolphins @ Colts | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Panthers @ Saints | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bills @ Jets | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Seahawks @ Raiders | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Rams @ Cardinals | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| 49ers @ Cowboys | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Steelers @ Bengals | Sunday Night Football |
| Chargers @ Ravens | Monday Night Football |
