The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Panthers and Saints on Monday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| New Orleans | Rank | @ | Carolina | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -3.0 | Spread | 3.0 | ||
| 21.5 | Implied Total | 18.5 | ||
| 16.0 | 22 | Points/Gm | 10.0 | 28 |
| 15.0 | 7 | Points All./Gm | 24.0 | 22 |
| 64.0 | 17 | Plays/Gm | 72.0 | 4 |
| 59.0 | 10 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 48.0 | 2 |
| 5.5 | 5 | Off. Yards/Play | 3.9 | 26 |
| 4.8 | 19 | Def. Yards/Play | 4.6 | 15 |
| 42.19% | 18 | Rush% | 44.44% | 14 |
| 57.81% | 15 | Pass% | 55.56% | 19 |
| 37.29% | 9 | Opp. Rush % | 54.17% | 29 |
| 62.71% | 24 | Opp. Pass % | 45.83% | 4 |
- Carolina had a gain of 20 or more yards on 1.4% of their offensive plays in Week 1, tied with Houston for the lowest rate in the league.
- 7.4% of the New Orleans rushing attempts resulted in a first down or touchdown, ahead of only the Texans (4.3%) in Week 1.
- Carolina running backs had a 44.4% success rate per carry in Week 1 (third).
- Bryce Young averaged 2.7 air yards per completed pass (28th) while Derek Carr averaged 8.8 air yards per completion (third).
- Young was 2-of-12 for 23 yards with two interceptions and a 0.0 rating on throws 10 yards or further downfield.
- Carr threw the ball on average 3.5 yards beyond the first down marker, the highest rate in the league in Week 1.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Derek Carr: Carr had a solid debut with the Saints, connecting on 23-of-33 passes (69.7%) for 305 yards (9.2 Y/A) with a touchdown and an interception.
Even in a down week for the position, that was still not quite enough to get Carr higher than QB15 (14.6 points), but treating him as a floor-based QB2 is right at home with expectations.
Going back to last season, this is a hyper-efficient passing game. The only question on a weekly basis is play volume.
With the Saints unable to run against the Titans (and a dash of rational coaching they showed late in the game), they dropped back on 59.4% of their plays.
That was only good for 17th in the league, but it also was their highest rate in a game as a team since Week 12 of last season.
The question here is will they have to throw a lot against Carolina, who did not press the Falcons a week ago? The Falcons beat Carolina with a 45.8% dropback rate.
When Atlanta did throw against Carolina, the Panthers allowed 0.478 passing points per attempt, which was 27th in Week 1.
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