The Carolina Panthers are looking to put Week 1 behind them when they play the Arizona Cardinals.
And that might be easier said than done.
The Panthers (0-1) are traveling to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for their second straight road contest and will take on the undefeated Cardinals, who trounced the New Orleans Saints, 20-13, in Week 1. The game is at 4:05 p.m. Sunday.
What, exactly, would meaningful improvement look like? Rectifying some of the play-clock issues on the offensive side of the ball, for one. Eliminating turnovers, for another. And cleaning up some of the fundamentals on defense: tackling, filling run-lane gaps and more.
On top of all that, the Cardinals pose threats unique to them. They have a mobile quarterback in Kyler Murray, a game-changer in safety Budda Baker and a tight end in Trey McBride who could be a matchup nightmare on Sunday.
So, with all that ... what will happen Week 2?
Observer reporters Mike Kaye and Alex Zietlow teamed up with Observer columnist Scott Fowler to deliver you our predictions on the Week 1 contest between the Cardinals and the Panthers.
Check out those predictions below — and also read up on how to watch the game on TV, listen to it on the radio and what the sportsbooks are predicting.
How to watch, follow the Carolina Panthers vs. Arizona Cardinals game
Fans can catch the 4:05 p.m. Sunday contest on CBS (reminder: this is the Panthers’ only non-1 p.m. start until Nov. 24, owing to the fact the game is being played three time zones away). The CBS play-by-play announcer will be Spero Dedes, with Adam Archuleta taking analyst duties and Aditi Kinkhabwala taking on sideline reporter responsibilities.
You can also catch the game on WRFX 99.7 The Fox, with Anish Shroff on play-by-play. The rest of the crew: Panther Hall of Honor legends Jake Delhomme and Jordan Gross will serve as analysts, while Sharon Thorsland will be the sideline reporter. That’s 99.7 FM in Charlotte and 101.5 FM in Raleigh — and you can check out the rest of the station’s local listings on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on WXNC 97.3 FM / 1060 AM — with play-by-play extraordinaire Jaime Moreno and analyst Antonio Ramos — and on Sports USA National Radio with Josh Appel and Marvin Lewis.
Betting information for Panthers-Cardinals
The Panthers opened as 6.5-point underdogs on Sunday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under opened as 44.5 points scored.
Some other lines that are worth paying attention to:
The over/under on Bryce Young’s passing yards was at 203.5. The third-year quarterback had 154 passing yards in Week 1 after a performance that he’d all-around like to have back — but even then, if his receivers haul in a few passes they should’ve had, he eclipses 200. Hitting the over seems to make sense here.
Team to score first: the Carolina Panthers are +134 in this regard, and Young and head coach Dave Canales have proven they can string together some pretty good first drives. If the Panthers have the ball first, this could be interesting.
Will there be overtime? You get quite the payout — +1,300 — if there’s OT. And the last time these two played they needed more than regulation to figure out the victor. Just throwing it out there.
Onto this week’s picks
Zietlow and Kaye were bamboozled by the Panthers’ positive offseason ... and were punished for it with an 0-1 start to 2025. Fowler was the only appropriately prudent predictor, and thus he sits with sole possession of the lead at 1-0.
Here’s who we got in Week 2.
Scott Fowler: Cardinals 24, Panthers 19. As I mentioned in my Week 1 pick in this space, the Panthers are going to have to prove it to me — and to you too, I imagine — and we just haven’t seen it yet. When you get outscored 69-23 in the preseason and then 26-10 in Week 1, well, that’s just showing people you’re not ready for prime time. Repeatedly. This game will be close, though, and Carolina having beaten Arizona at the end of the 2024 season does mean something.
Will there be progress? Yes. Will there be enough? No.
Mike Kaye: Cardinals 24, Panthers 17. The Panthers’ Week 1 performance is very hard to wrap your head around. This defense looks the same — even with elevated talent — and the offense looked regressive in the opener.
It’s hard to pick the Panthers until they show signs of life. Hopefully, for their sake, Canales learned from the opening blunders, and they strike back. Just hard to think that’ll happen coming off the Jacksonville blowout.
Alex Zietlow: Panthers 28, Cardinals 20. Let me settle this up top: I’m not here to gaslight anyone and claim that the Panthers “actually looked better than you initially thought” in Week 1. That would be rude. And weird. There’s no getting around Bryce Young’s three turnovers; no getting around the offense’s operational issues. My only real rationale for my prediction is this: The Panthers are better than what they showed Week 1. They can tackle. They can finish catches with two feet in-bounds. And they can find a way to go 2-2 through these first four games (... right?). Let’s float on faith.