Betting news, trends, odds and predictions for Monday, January 29, 2018 from various handicappers and websites
Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will be the 52nd installment of the big game on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018 from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Before you start handicapping the matchup and prop wagers, you should check out 52 betting angles and trends that our VegasInsider.com Editorial staff have uncovered for this year’s Super Bowl.
1 – In the first 50 Super Bowls, only one was decided by exactly one point – Super Bowl XXV in in 1991 when the Giants defeated the Bills 17-16 from Tampa, Florida as seven-point underdogs.
2 – This is the second Super Bowl to be played in Minnesota. The first came in January 1992 in another battle of NFC East vs. AFC East when the Redskins beat the Bills, 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI at the Metrodome.
3 – Six Super Bowls have been decided by three points or less. The Patriots and Eagles were involved in a three-point decision in Super Bowl XXXIX, while New England has participated in four Super Bowls decided by three points or less (3-1).
4 – New England is ranked 31st in opponents yards per rush attempt at 4.6. Philadelphia's defense was almost a yard better, only allowing 3.8 rushing yards per attempt (ranked 7th).
5 – The Patriots are averaging 5.9 yards per play on offense, which is the fourth best mark in the NFL. The Eagles aren't far behind in the ninth spot, with 5.5 YPP.
6 – Nick Foles (Arizona) will be looking to become the sixth quarterback from a Pac-12 school to win a Super Bowl. The other five are Aaron Rodgers (California), John Elway (Stanford), Troy Aikman (UCLA), Mark Rypien (Washington State), and Jim Plunkett (Stanford).
7 – Seven Eagles recorded an offensive play of 50 yards or more this season, compared to only two Patriots who put together a 50-yard play.
8 – Patriots' tight end Rob Gronkowski is 'questionable' with a concussion suffered in the AFC title game. Gronkowski has made eight receptions in two Super Bowls as he missed last year's game with a back injury. He has a prop wager of 5 total receptions against the Eagles.
9 – The Eagles rushed for nine touchdowns this season, which ranked last among the 12 teams that qualified for the postseason. Yes (-130) opened as a slight favorite over No (+100) for the prop on if Philadelphia will score a rushing touchdown.
10 – There have been 10 situations where a head coach was making his debut in the Super Bowl versus a head coach with Super Bowl experience. This took place last season as Atlanta's Dan Quinn came up short to New England's Bill Belichick. Prior to that outcome, the Super Bowl rookie coach had won the two previous situations which recently took place in Super Bowl XLVIII with Pete Carroll’s Seahawks knocking off John Fox’s Broncos, 43-8.
11 – This is the 11th Super Bowl played between teams from the AFC East and NFC East. Teams from the NFC East have compiled an impressive 8-2 mark in these matchups.
12 – Of the 102 quarterbacks who have started a Super Bowl, 25 of them have worn number 12 (Tom Brady). Those signal callers have gone 14-11 overall and that is the most wins by quarterbacks wearing 12 in SB history.
13 - The Rams and Packers are tied with the fewest number of rushing attempts (13) by teams that won a Super Bowl.
14 – The fewest points scored by a winning team in a Super Bowl was 14, which came in Super Bowl VII when the Dolphins defeated the Redskins 14-7.
15 – Only one quarterback has thrown 15 touchdown passes in Super Bowl history. That man is Tom Brady, as the only other quarterback to compile double-digit touchdown passes in Super Bowl history is Joe Montana (11).
16 – Sixteen times in Super Bowl history prior to last season has the game been decided by seven points or less. The next year in this scenario, the Super Bowl has been decided by a double-digit margin 13 times.
17 – Philadelphia is the fifth team in Super Bowl history to take an 0-2 record into its third Super Bowl. The first three squads (Minnesota, Denver, and Buffalo) all lost in their third Super Bowl appearance, while scoring 17 points or fewer in each defeat. The fourth team in this scenario? The 2001 Patriots, who beat the Rams, 20-17 on a last-second field goal.
18 – Both the Eagles and Patriots each ranked in the top 5 of the NFL in points allowed per game. Philadelphia yielded 18.4 PPG, while New England gave up 18.5 PPG in the regular season.
19 – Tom Brady has faced NFC East opponents 19 times in his career, including three times in the Super Bowl. The Patriots own a 14-5 SU and 8-10-1 ATS record in these contests, but are 0-3 ATS in the Super Bowl against the Giants and Eagles.
20 – The most combined penalties called in a Super Bowl was 20, which happened twice in 50 games. Dallas and Denver did so in Super Bowl XII and the Patriots and Panthers followed suit in SBXXXVIII.
21 – Bettors have seen underdogs cover the point-spread in 21 of the 51 Super Bowls and 14 of those clubs pulled off outright victories.
22 – This will be the 22nd career game played at a venue that is indoors or has a retractable roof for New England quarterback Tom Brady. The Patriots have gone 18-4 in those games and coincidentally three of the setbacks came in the Super Bowl.
23 (A) – According to the Nevada Gaming Commission, sportsbooks have posted a “profit” in 23 of the last 25 Super Bowls largely due to prop wager outcomes. The two matchups they lost on came in 1995 when San Francisco annihilated San Diego and in 2008 when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots.
23 (B) – The Eagles were ranked second in scoring defense (17.3 PPG) but the unit didn’t travel well, allowing 23.5 PPG which was the 10th worst among the 12 playoff teams.
24 – In the first 51 Super Bowls, 24 of them have been decided by 14 points or more.
25 – In 36 career playoff games, Patriots QB Tom Brady has averaged nearly 25 completions per game (24.7). For Super Bowl 52, his proposition wager on total completions opened at 26 ½.
26 – The longest time that elapsed in a Super Bowl before either team scored was 26 minutes, which occurred in SB38 between New England and Carolina. Despite the slow start, the pair combined 24 at the end of the first half and a SB record 37 in the final 15 minutes as the Patriots won 32-29 over the Panthers.
27 – Since Tom Brady took over as quarterback of the Patriots in 2001, New England has won 27 playoff games. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has compiled 21 postseason victories in franchise history.
28 (A) – Philadelphia only faced three playoff teams during the regular season and all of the games took place on the road. They went 2-1 in those games despite allowing 28.3 PPG. The ‘over’ went 2-0-1.
28 (B) – Quarterbacks have captured the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award 28 times. Tom Brady (2/3) and Nick Foles (7/2) are the top two betting choices for this year’s popular prop wager.
29 – The Eagles went 3-1 both straight up and against the spread versus AFC opponents this season while the offense averaged 29 PPG. The ‘over’ went 2-1-1.
30 – Including the 38-7 win over the Vikings in the NFC Championship game, QB Nick Foles has thrown for three touchdown passes or more nine times in his career. His teams have gone 8-1 in those games while the offense has averaged 30 PPG. Brady has had 87 games in his career with 3-plus TDs, with 10 coming in the postseason.
31 – The Eagles were ranked fourth in the regular season with 31 takeaways, highlighted with 19 interceptions and 12 fumbles. In the playoffs, they forced three turnovers which all came against Minnesota in the NFC Championship.
32 – The Patriots have averaged 32.6 points per game in their last five playoff games. New England has watched the ‘over’ go 4-1 in those games and it has gone ‘over’ its team total in four of five as well.
33 – Eagles running back Jay Ajayi only had 77 carries in seven games during the regular season but that number jumped up to 33 in the postseason. His Super Bowl prop for rushing attempts is listed at 13 ½.
34 – With this game included, New England owns the record for most appearances in the Super Bowl with 10 and the most points they every scored was 34, which occured in last year's overtime win (34-28) over Atlanta in Super Bowl 51 (LI).
35 – The most points ever scored in the first-half of a Super Bowl came in SB22 as the Redskins posted 35 points on the Broncos, all of the scores coming in the second quarter. New England has a team total of 13 ½ in the first-half of SB52 while Philadelphia opened at 10 ½ points.
36 – New England has played 36 postseason games with Tom Brady under center and the team has gone 27-9 in those games.
37 – The most points the Eagles have allowed in a playoff victory came in the 1995 Wild Card round against the Lions in a 58-37 blowout.
38 – New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski made 38-of-42 field goals (90.5%) this season, which was ranked fourth in the league. Eagles kicker Jake Elliot converted 85.7 percent (30-of-35) and also missed four extra points (44-of-48). Gostkowki was 53-of-55 in PATs.
39 – In Super Bowl 39 (XXXIX), New England defeated Philadelphia 24-21 but failed to cover as a seven-point favorite. This was one of two games where the underdog, in this case the Eagles, scored late to affect the point-spread. The other backdoor cover came in SBXIII when Pittsburgh defeated Dallas 35-31. The Cowboys trailed 35-17 and scored 14 points in the final three minutes.
40 – The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook listed a Safety as the first scoring play of SBLII at 40/1 odds. There have been nine safeties occur in a Super Bowl and it happened to be the first score in three of the finales (SBIX, SBXLVI, SBXLVIII).
41 – New England posted a season-high 41 points in Week 10 as it captured a 41-16 road win over Denver in a Sunday Night affair.
42 – New England racked up 42 sacks in the regular season, which was tied for the seventh best mark in the league. The unit added 11 more to that total in two playoffs games.
43 – Philadelphia averaged 28.5 PPG on the road and they scored a season-high as visitors in Week 14 when they posted a 43-35 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
44 – Washington Redskins running back John Riggins wore number 44 and he’s the only Super Bowl MVP that had a jersey listed in the forties. The most common range for SB MVP jersey numbers falls between 10 and 19.
45 – The most points New England has scored in the postseason with Tom Brady under center was 45, which occurred twice. The Patriots blasted the Broncos (45-10) in the 2011 postseason and the Colts 45-7 in the 2015 playoffs.
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46 – The Patriots were held to 46 rushing yards in their 24-20 win over Jacksonville in the AFC Championship, which was the second-lowest production this season. When held under 70 rushing yards this season, New England went 2-1 SU but 0-3 ATS.
47 – Philadelphia had its opponents return 47 kickoffs this season, which was tied for the second-most in the NFL. Opponents averaged 21.6 yards per return. New England was first in returns allowed at 58 but its average was 18.9, which was the third-best special teams unit.
48 – The total on this year’s Super Bowl is hovering between 48 and 48 ½ points. The Eagles have had two totals fall in this neighborhood and the results ended in a stalemate (1-1). New England has watched the ‘over’ go 3-2 with numbers closing at 48 or 48 ½.
49 – The Eagles have combined for 49 first downs in their two postseason games, which is up from their regular season average of 21.5. Philadelphia was ranked fourth in that category, while New England owns the top spot with an average of 24.6 first downs per game.
49 – San Francisco captured a 49-26 victory over San Diego in Super Bowl 29, which was the only time a team scored exactly seven touchdowns and extra points in a game. The 75 combined points was also the most ever scored in a Super Bowl.
50 - Philadelphia had seven plays this regular season register 50-plus yards and two of them came on rushing attempts. In the postseason, they added a 53-yard reception and also posted 41 and 42-yard catches as well. The Patriots were less explosive and only managed two plays that were more than 50 yards.
51 – The Eagles scored a season-high 51 points in Week 9 as they blasted the Broncos 51-23 at home. The last time Philadelphia posted 50-plus on the scoreboard, Chip Kelly was the head coach in the 2013 season.
52 – Eagles QB Nick Foles has suited up for 52 games in his NFL career and his teams have gone 31-21 overall and that includes an 11-11 mark away from home.