NFL Week 18 Under of the Week: NFC South of the Total

· Jan 05 - 3 minutes read

The final week of the 2021 NFL regular season is at hand and we have a glut of games from which to pick our “Under of the Week.” The NFL betting lines feature mostly low-scoring totals, partly thanks to the chance of the starters resting and partly thanks to some potent defenses matching up with subpar offenses.

With a lot of matchups to pick from, we turn our attention to the NFC South plus an AFC East game that has already cashed an under earlier this season.

NFL Week 18 Under Contenders

Second Runner-Up: Carolina Panthers (5-11) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-4)

When: Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET)

Totals: Under 41½

Our first NFC South matchup pits the hapless Carolina Panthers against the wounded Super Bowl Champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carolina has lost six straight thanks to an abysmal offense that has failed to hit the 20-point mark in five of its last seven games. But the defense is still “legit.”

Carolina is allowing 19.4 points on the road, including the second-fewest passing yards and yards per play. Against the banged-up Buccaneers, Carolina can at least throw a wrench in Tampa’s offensive gears.

The Buccaneers struggled to beat the New York Jets and their last game against Carolina went under. Either Tampa shuts Carolina down again or the Panthers keep Tom Brady & Co. from blowing them out of the building. It’s worth a bet online though it’s not quite our lock to go under.

First Runner-Up: New England Patriots (10-6) at Miami Dolphins (8-8)

When: Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET)

Spread: Under 40

For a “limited” offense, the Patriots have dropped some massive scoring: 50 points against Jacksonville, 45 against Cleveland, and 54 against the Jets. But most decent and (mostly) healthy defenses can keep New England from exploding kind of like what Miami did in the season opener.

The Dolphins have a top-10 defense at home. Brian Flores’s crew allows the fewest yards per play while forcing over two turnovers a game. Chaos is the sworn enemy for any Bill Belichick offense so constantly pressuring Mac Jones and stripping balls will hamper New England.

As for the Patriots, the Bills have been the only team to score more than 17 points against them in the last eight games. New England has the top-scoring offense while the Dolphins average the fewest yards per play at home. Not a lot of points will be had here and it’s a solid contender on the BetUS online sportsbook, second only to the …

Under of the Week: New Orleans Saints (8-8) at Atlanta Falcons (7-9)

When: Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET)

Totals: Under 40

This is the low-hanging fruit of Week 18 and it’s surprising that the total is still at the 40-point mark. The Saints and Falcons combine for two of the worst offenses in the NFL partly thanks to injuries. They combined to average just under 37 points together.

New Orleans averages the second-fewest passing yards while Atlanta has the third-fewest rushing yards. They’ve both had 10 games (of 16) that have gone under the total including five of the Falcons’ seven home games.

With the Saints still playing for a playoff spot, you can bank on the defense to go HAM on the Falcons. But it’s also an easy NFL prediction that the Taysom Hill-led Saints offense won’t be producing too many points with its run-heavy and gimmicky approach.