ESPN's Consensus Predictions for Falcons-Panthers Week 18 Showdown

ESPN was unanimous in its choice of the Falcons-Panthers matchup along with who will win the NFC South.

Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

ESPN unanimously predicted the Atlanta Falcons to defeat the Carolina Panthers in Week 18. But The Worldwide Leader in Sports still didn't give the Falcons much of a chance to win the NFC South.

In their weekly NFL games preview, ESPN's Seth Walder, Eric Moody and Kalyn Kahler all projected the Falcons-Panthers matchup to be close. All three experts, though, predicted the Falcons to win.

Here are their final score predictions for the matchup:

Kahler: Falcons 24, Panthers 17
Moody: Falcons 25, Panthers 20
Walder: Falcons 23, Panthers 19

Walder argued the Falcons will use their rushing attack to win.

"The Falcons will combine to run for at least 200 yards against Carolina. Atlanta runs outside zone 69% of the time, the highest rate in the NFL," Walder wrote. "And no team surrenders more yards per outside zone carry than the Panthers at 5.2. In a must-win game for the Falcons, it makes sense for them to exploit Carolina's weakness."

ESPN's FPI also has the Falcons with an edge, as it gave Atlanta a 73.4% chance of winning the matchup. The Falcons' average margin of victory in the FPI was also notably wider than what the three experts projected -- 9.4 points.

But to capture their first division title since 2016, the Falcons must win, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have to lose to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Kahler, Moody and Walder all projected the Buccaneers to beat the Saints by at least 8 points. The ESPN FPI prediction gave Tampa Bay a 79.7% chance to win and awarded the Buccaneers an average margin of victory possibility of 12.3 points.

The Saints have struggled to score in recent weeks. That might not change for New Orleans during Week 18, especially with starting quarterback Derek Carr out for the matchup.

"The Saints have been held below 20 points in five consecutive games entering Sunday," wrote ESPN. "A sixth such game would break a tie for their longest such single-season streak since a nine-game streak in 1996."

Both the Falcons-Panthers showdown and Buccaneers-Saints matchup will kick off at 1 pm ET on Sunday. The Falcons must win, and the Buccaneers have to lose for Atlanta to end its playoff drought.