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THE PLAY: Carolina Panthers +6.5 (-110)

Hold your nose, folks. Heading into the start of the regular season, we'd be willing to bet that there is not a betting model or power ratings system on this planet that had the Los Angeles Chargers as a 6.5-point road favorite in Carolina in Week 2. Bryce Young and the Panthers were dreadful in Week 1 in New Orleans, but this number is head-scratching. There are no positives to take away from Carolina's performance on Sunday. They were terrible and a downgrade is certainly justified. Aside from the Packers' uncertain QB situation, we dropped Carolina by more points after Week 1 than any other team and we're still nowhere near this number. A steep downgrade on Carolina is justified, but what did the Chargers accomplish on Sunday to justify an upgrade in their rating? They had 11 total first downs at home against a team they were favored against. The Chargers went 4-for-15 on third down and were the beneficiary of a +3 turnover differential (might as well have been +4 after Antonio Pierce's botched punt decision). Bettors were lining up to play Carolina last week, pushing the spread from +5 to +3.5 at New Orleans. Is everyone giving up and throwing in the towel after one week? Last year, Carolina closed +4.5 at Seattle, +3.5 vs Houston, +4 vs Minnesota (with healthy Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, etc), +3.5 vs Green Bay and +3.5 vs Tampa Bay. All of a sudden, the Panthers are catching 6.5 points at home to the Chargers? This isn’t the Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams version.