Carolina Panthers vs Arizona Cardinals Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 09/14/25

NFC action here as the Carolina Panthers travel to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2. Carolina got beat badly by the Jaguars as Bryce Young appeared to regress from the progress everyone seems to think he showed last season. But I’m not so sure he actually made all that much progress in 2024. Sure it was better than his truly disastrous rookie campaign in 2023, but that’s only because it couldn’t possibly have gotten any worse.

Even in his alleged sophomore ‘leap’, Young still barely completed 60 percent of his passes while averaging 6.3 yards per attempt with a 15/9 TD/INT ratio. Last week against the Jags, he averaged 4.4 yards per attempt with two picks. Carolina’s defense looked uninspiring also, as they let Travis Etienne run all over them for 146 yards. The Cardinals didn’t light the world on fire in their Week 1 win over the Saints, but that’s because they didn’t need to as they controlled the game most of the way and were playing Spencer Rattler.

I’m a big Jonathan Gannon fan, and his defense held the Saints to just 13 points last week. And perhaps most importantly for Arizona’s season moving forward, Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison’s chemistry looked much improved, after they sometimes looked off during MHJ’s rookie year. Harrison caught 5 of 6 targets to lead the team with 71 yards and a touchdown, and should have more success against a porous Panthers defense here. I’m laying the points with the Cards.

Cardinals -7 at publishing.

The under also makes a lot of sense here. Both of these offenses looked pretty sluggish in Week 1, and I have no confidence in Bryce Young whatsoever. Young averaged 4.4 yards per attempt with two interceptions last week, and that was against a middling Jaguars defense. Carolina is embarrassingly thin at the skill positions, and their rookie first-round pick receiver was the only player on the team last week with more than 32 receiving yards.

And even that was from a running back, Chuba Hubbard. Hunter Renfrow and Xavier Legette combined to catch 5 of their 13 targets for a whopping 21 yards. And it wasn’t like the Cardinals were much more explosive on offense, as Kyler Murray averaged just 5.6 yards per attempt despite completing over 70 percent of his passes. Arizona’s offensive line was also pretty shaky, as Murray took five sacks. Both teams likely envision their defenses as their paths to winning this game, and I think we’ll see a defensive struggle.

Under 44.5 at publishing.