Panthers now 10.5-point underdogs to Cardinals after Sam Darnold’s injury

Sam Darnold’s shoulder injury has slightly moved the betting line for the Panthers’ Week 10 matchup with the Cardinals.

Update (10:20 a.m. ET): The line has now moved to 10.5 points from the previous line of 10 points. The Panthers are still underdogs.

The Carolina Panthers will most likely be starting their backup quarterback when they travel to the desert to square off with the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10, and the Panthers are not expected to get back to .500 with a win on Sunday as the line from DraftKings Sportsbook still has the Panthers as 10-point underdogs to the Cardinals. The over/under is currently set at 44.5 points.

These numbers have not changed from the opening line which saw the Panthers as 10-point underdogs with a 44.5 point over/under total. It’s interesting to me that the line hasn’t changed due to the status of Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold, who is expected to miss several weeks with a partially broken scapula. Backup quarterback P.J. Walker is expected to start if (well, more likely when) Darnold is ruled out against the Cardinals on Sunday.

While it’s interesting that Darnold’s injury hasn’t affected the betting line, it’s not really that surprising. The Panthers have struggled on offense over the last month with Darnold under center, with three straight games of point totals under 20 points, and two of those three games with point totals under 10. This, simply put, will not be sufficient against a Cardinals team that’s averaging 30 points per game (ranked second in the NFL).

Even if Darnold were able to play on Sunday the Panthers would still struggle to keep up with an offense as electric as Arizona’s has been this year, so in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn’t really matter which quarterback the Panthers run out there. The Panthers defense may hold the Cardinals to less than their 30-point average this week, but with an offense that has put up 28 total points over the last three weeks it’s probably not going to be enough to change the end result of this one.

The Cardinals have already matched their win total from last season, and they will look to clinch their first winning season since 2015 with a win over the Panthers on Sunday. They are currently in first place in the NFC West with an 8-1 record.

The odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook, where you can also find the odds for all of next week’s games.