NFL Week 17 odds: Panthers big underdogs again for rematch with Buccaneers

The oddsmakers still seem to think Tampa is at least a touchdown better than Carolina this season.

Tim Weaver | 4 Hours Ago

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 01: Bucky Irving #7 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers runs the ball during the second half of a football game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on December 1, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. / (Photo by David Jensen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Carolina Panthers

When the Carolina Panthers hosted the division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers a few weeks ago they took them to the limit. Even though Tampa came into the game favored to win by six points, it took an overtime field goal to take down Carolina in a matchup that arguably could have very easily gone the other way.

Even though they made it that tough on the Bucs last time out, the oddsmakers still don't see them as real peers with this Tampa team. According to the early odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for this coming week's road game against the Buccaneers, the Panthers are 7.5 point underdogs.

The Bucs will have home-field advantage this time around and recent history is still on their side. After this most recent meeting Tampa has now won eight of the last nine matchups between these teams.

However, it's clear that this Panthers team is much different than the ones that lost most of those games. Bryce Young is playing cleaner ball, they have a dominant run game and their pass rush is respectable again after a brutal start to the season.

If the Panthers could only manage to do a slightly better than totally-terrible job against the run they might actually have a chance at an upset. Last time it didn't go that way, as Bucky Irving and Rachaad White went off for 228 yards on the ground, including a 38-yard scamper by White that set up the game-winning field goal. There's no help coming personnel-wise until at least free agency, so this group will have to find a way to improve in this department on their own. He's not playing with a full deck, but it falls to defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero to somehow manufacture a solution, here.