Super Bowl Betting with Props – New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts
Sunday, February 7th – 6:28 PM ET
Sun Life Stadium – Miami, FL
Super Bowl Betting Spread: Colts -5.5 O/U: 57
For the first time since the 1993 season, when the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills met in Super Bowl XXVIII in Atlanta, the top seeds from both the NFC and AFC earned the right to play each other in pro football’s championship showcase.
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Super Bowl XLIV features the two teams who outpaced the rest of the NFL throughout the season, and who used dome-field advantage to great effect in the month of January.
Now, placed in an outdoor stadium on grass, these two ballclubs will try to deal with the unique emotional cocktail of this heavily-hyped neutral-site event. Who will make an all-time blunder? Who will become an unexpected hero before billions of worldwide viewers? America can’t wait to find out.
Super Bowl Betting: What The Saints Have To Do To Win
Play their best offensive game. Yeah, one could say that New Orleans will have to contain Peyton Manning, but the likelihood of that happening is minimal. This contest figures to be a shootout, so the Saints – armed as they are with a boatload of explosive weapons – must simply max out on the offensive side of the ball and force the Colts to keep pace.
Drew Brees and the rest of the Saints were thoroughly whipped for most of the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings. An offense that destroyed the NFC for most of the season got smacked around by the beefy, brawny Vikes on Jan. 24. Limited to just 257 yards, the Saints struggled against Minnesota because their receivers generally couldn’t shake free from the Vikings’ corners.
On the few occasions when Brees had an open man downfield, he normally overthrew the ball. The only reason New Orleans scored 31 points was that the Saints started two second-half touchdown drives at the Minnesota 37 and 7, respectively. Assuming that Manning doesn’t give the Saints a number of gift turnovers, Brees and teammate Reggie Bush will have to be on top of their game.
Super Bowl Betting: What The Colts Have To Do To Win
Get first-rate cornerback play.
If there’s one major source of concern for the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, it’s their assemblage of cover corners. Jacob Lacey, a rookie from Oklahoma State, got smoked in the AFC Championship Game by New York Jets receiver Braylon Edwards. Indianapolis repeatedly hemorrhaged big plays because its back line of defense got sucked toward the line of scrimmage by New York’s play action and run fakes. Only when Peyton Manning put the Colts ahead by 10 points, and the Jets had to pass midway through the second half, did Indy manage to contain the Jets’ offense.
Indianapolis has an offense that should not be a source of concern. Peyton Manning is a masterful on-field coach, as close as anything pro football has ever seen to a coordinator with a helmet and pads. It’s on defense where the Super Bowl will be won or lost for the AFC champions. As long as Lacey and the rest of the secondary don’t get burned deep, and force New Orleans to play a slow-paced game the Saints generally don’t prefer, it will be hard to see how the NFC champions can outscore Manning.
The Freeney Factor:
While both teams are fairly healthy for the Super Bowl, the one key injury that stands out is the bad ankle of Colts Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Freeney is one of the best pass rushers in the game and clearly having him in the lineup or missing him would impact that game – especially when you consider how much passing and pass rushing there will be.
Early reports indicated that it would be tough for Freeney to plain on a torn ligament in his ankle. More recent reports indicate that he probably will play in some limited role. Teammate Robert Mathis indicated that Freeney would likely play on third down situations.
Freeney will suit up on Super Bowl Sunday. The question is how much will he play and what type of impact will he have on Super Bowl betting.
Super Bowl Betting: Outlook & Pick
The NFC Championship Game was a comedy show, with New Orleans and Minnesota trying to see which team could commit more mistakes and jaw-dropping blunders. The Saints littered the field with penalties, while the Vikings couldn’t hang onto the pigskin. The outcome of the game was decided in part by the overtime coin toss which awarded New Orleans the ball and prevented the Vikings from having a chance to drive the ball against a tired Saints defense. New Orleans did win, but only because its opponent drowned in a sea of mistakes.
On the other hand, the AFC Championship Game witnessed a mature team at work. The Colts stumbled early and trailed 17-6 against the surging Jets, but Peyton Manning calmly piloted his offense to a dominating second-half performance against an elite NFL defense. The bottom line in this game is that one team is in the Super Bowl because it got lucky, while another team reached pro football’s biggest stage with an emphatic thumping of a confident underdog who had nothing to lose.
Indianapolis deserves to be a six-point favorite, if not more. The Colts are more balanced, more experienced, and they won the last time they came to Miami for a Super Bowl, in 2007 versus the Chicago Bears. Peyton Manning will know how to handle this occasion. The Saints figure to be nervous, and that will cost them in what should be a high-scoring contest.
Super Bowl Betting Pick: Colts -5.5 & Over 57
Super Bowl Betting: Team To Score First And Score In First 7.5 Minutes
The Colts should score a ton. Obviously, they will get started quickly. The only thing that could get in the way of a high-scoring affair is if it rains in Miami. Don’t laugh; when the Colts played in Super Bowl XLI against Chicago, that’s exactly what happened at Sun Life Stadium.
Super Bowl Betting: Colts Will Score First, Score In First 7.5 Minutes
One reply on “Colts vs. Saints Superbowl Odds – Free Pick & Props”
Forget defense in this one so throw out the comparison between the each of the Championship games. The Jets did not have the offense to compete with the Colts, but the Saints do. Indianapolis is going to score points, but so is New Orleans so Manning is going to have to work for his second ring,