If I had told you before the season that the Week 8 matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers would decide first place in the NFC, you would probably have believed me, right? Well, at least more so than if I told you instead that the matchup would decide which team falls below .500.
That's the situation the 3-3 Seahawks and 3-3-1 Panthers find themselves in. The defending Super Bowl champs dropped a game to the lowly St. Louis Rams last week while Carolina came off a tie with the Cincinnati Bengals to get thumped by the Green Bay Packers, though the Panthers are still somehow in first place in the disappointing NFC South. One of them will have a losing record by Sunday night, and the experts think it will be Carolina ... by a wide margin.
Eleven of the 13 experts at ESPN, seven of the eight at Fox Sports and seven of the eight at CBS Sports are picking Seattle to win on the road. Senior CBS columnist Pete Prisco sees it going 20-14 in favor of the visiting team:
This is a long road trip for a team that is reeling like Seattle. They are playing consecutive road games and face a team in Carolina that is home for the first time in three weeks. I just can't see the Seahawks going to 3-4. They regroup and find a way.
SB Nation's panelists agree for the most part, with only PFT Commenter picking Carolina.
| Week 8 | Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | PFT Commenter | Matt Ufford | Joel Thorman |
| SEA vs. CAR | SEA | SEA | SEA | SEA | CAR | SEA | SEA |