Thirteen down, three to go. The countdown to 16-0 continues for the unstoppable and unbeaten Carolina Panthers, who travel to the Meadowlands this weekend to face the New York Giants.
Panthers vs. Giants 2015 picks and predictions: Experts think Carolina will remain perfect
The Giants have a history of slaying Goliath. Will it be deja vu for Big Blue on Sunday against the perfect Panthers?
The Panthers’ historic campaign rolls on, and is quickly approaching rare and unexplored territory. Carolina is the sixth team in NFL history to win 17 or more games in a row, the ninth team to start 13-0 and last week set the franchise record for wins in a season.
The Panthers have already locked up a division title and first-round bye, and can clinch the final piece of the puzzle -- homefield advantage throughout the playoffs -- with a win on Sunday and a loss by the Cardinals. Boasting the league's highest-scoring offense and a stingy top-five defense, the Panthers are scary good right now and look downright invincible at times.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the Panthers’ pursuit of perfection is that they’ve actually become more dominant as the pressure to win has increased in the second half of the season.
They won their first eight games by an average of 7.9 points per contest, but that number has nearly tripled to 21 points per game in the last five weeks. In the first two months, they had just three double-digit wins and none by more than 14 points; their margins of victory in the last five games: 17, 28, 18, 3, 38.
The Giants might bring a sub-.500 record into this seemingly lopsided matchup, but they are no stranger to spoiling unblemished seasons. Incredibly, of the previous eight clubs that were unbeaten through 13 games, three suffered their first loss at the hands of the Giants: 1934 Bears, 1998 Broncos and 2007 Patriots.
Ending the Panthers’ long winning streak isn’t the only motivation for the Giants on Sunday. They are fighting for a playoff spot and are locked in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC East. They have arguably the toughest remaining schedule of the trio, though. The projections at Football Outsiders give them just 23.5 percent odds to win the division, worse than both Philly and Washington.
The experts are mostly favoring the Panthers to keep their perfect record intact. The CBS Sports panel is 6-2 in favor of Carolina, while the majority of the guys at ESPN are also taking the Panthers. Here at SB Nation headquarters, five of the eight experts are going with the road team.
| Week 15 | Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark |
| CAR vs NYG | CAR | NYG | NYG | CAR | CAR | NYG | CAR | CAR |
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