NFL: G-MEN LEAD LIST OF SUPER BOWL ODDS
Having a first-round bye is huge in the NFL Playoffs and nowhere is that reflected more than in our updated Super Bowl Odds.
The four teams resting this week are the prohibitive favorites with the New York Giants (+250), Pittsburgh Steelers (+450), Carolina Panthers (+500) and Tennessee Titans (+600) leading the way.
The Giants are not surprising at all as the overall favorite, as the defending champs beat Carolina in the Meadowlands by running all over them to the tune of 301 yards. And while that was a close game overall, New York should be 4-6 point favorites if they meet in the NFC title game.
Pittsburgh being a favorite over Tennessee is a little more surprising given that the Titans have home field advantage and they already beat Pittsburgh there once.
Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a concussion last Sunday against Cleveland, but he is expected to be ready in two weeks and Pittsburgh fans feel confident about their chances if the teams meet again.
The AFC Wild-Card teams, Indianapolis (+1000) and Baltimore (+1200) both appear stronger than the other two AFC division winners, San Diego (+1000) and Miami (+2500).
Remember, it was just two years ago that Indy won a Super Bowl without the benefit of a playoff bye-week. In fact, a Wild-Card Weekend team has won the Super Bowl the last three years with Pittsburgh in 2005 and the Giants last season.
Baltimore looks undervalued at their odds, and a lot of that has to do with having a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco. Conversely, San Diego seems overvalued as they were a .500 team and are underdogs this week against the Colts.
Miami has had a miracle season up to this point after finishing 1-15 last year, but the oddsmakers clearly don’t feel they’re good enough to win four more games.
The rest of the NFC odds are Philadelphia (+1000) Atlanta (+2000), Minnesota (+2500) and Arizona (+5000).
Philly is getting a lot of respect after beating Dallas into submission on Sunday. However, the Eagles are very fortunate to even be in the playoffs as Tampa Bay and Chicago both had to lose last week. And this is the same offense that only mustered three points at Washington two weeks ago.
Atlanta has a lot of value at their odds, as it seems like some people just can’t believe the turnaround this team has had. One caveat though is rookie quarterback Matt Ryan who cooled off some in December.
An inexperienced quarterback also haunts Minnesota, who has the sometimes frightening Tarvaris Jackson behind center. Running back Adrian Peterson is the league’s best back, but defenses can contain him in the postseason.
Arizona is the longshot of longshots. There is no denying that Kurt Warner and the passing offense can score on anyone and Edgerrin James did help revamp the running game last week, but this team is not playing great football right now despite beating Seattle.
