Super Bowl HQ

Conference Recaps
Giants 23 Packers 20 (OT)
Chargers 12 Patriots 21

Divisional Recaps
Giants 21 Cowboys 17
Chargers 28 Colts 24
Jaguars 20 Patriots 31
Seahawks 20 Packers 42

Wild Card Recaps
Titans 6 Chargers 17
Giants 24 Buccaneers 14
Jaguars 31 Steelers 29
Redskins 14 Seahawks 35

Live Odds (from Yahoo Sports)

Sunday, Feb 3
Favorite: New England

Open: 12

Today: 12

O/U: 53.5

Underdog: NY Giants

The New England Patriots’ path to perfection has one last hurdle: a New York team of road warriors hoping for a Giant upset.

Brady and the Patriots (18-0) will try to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to complete an undefeated season when they face Eli Manning and the Giants on Feb. 3 in the Super Bowl at Glendale, Ariz.

Standing in the Patriots’ way are the Giants (13-6) and Manning — Peyton’s little brother, whose moxie and leadership abilities no longer can be questioned.

Las Vegas oddsmakers might think differently. They installed New England as a 13 1/2-point favorite in the big game, in which New York will get another shot at destroying the Patriots’ path to perfection. For up-to-date odds click here: Live Odds (from Yahoo Sports)

New England won 38-35 in its final game of the regular season, rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit against the Giants. The teams also played in the preseason finale, when New England won — with Brady sitting that one out.

Brady and the Patriots are playing in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years. A win in this one would rank the Patriots as perhaps the greatest champion in NFL history — Spygate a long-forgotten speedbump.

In that scandal, the Patriots were fined $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick $500,000 for violating league rules by training a sideline camera on New York Jets coaches in their season-opening win. New England was stripped of its first-round draft pick next season, but the team stood by its coach.

And the Patriots never wavered.

Maybe none more than New England’s record-breaking — and heartbreaking — quarterback.

Brady threw an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes in the regular season, with 23 of those to Randy Moss, who topped Jerry Rice’s record. Brady was also the league’s Most Valuable Player in helping New England score an NFL-record 589 points.

The Patriots are on the verge of making NFL history.

And they’ll see a familiar foe in the Giants, whose run through the playoffs into their first Super Bowl since 2001 was jump-started by their valiant effort against the Patriots in the last week of the regular season.

This is the same New York team that gave up 80 points in its first two games and had fans calling for coach Tom Coughlin to be fired. Those same fans also wondered whether Manning, acquired in a draft-day deal in 2004, would ever become a franchise-type quarterback like his brother.

Little brother is now in the Super Bowl with a chance to bring home a title of his own.

Sure, Manning had a big hand in the Giants’ success, especially when the games took on greater meaning. He has been flawless in the postseason, completing a number of clutch throws without a turnover.

New York became the first NFC wild-card team to reach the Super Bowl since Dallas in 1975. And the Giants did it the hard way, winning all their road games after dropping their season opener at Dallas.

“We’re going on the road again,” Coughlin said. “That’s good.”

New York visited Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay in the playoffs and went home winners. Next up is the biggest game of them all and a chance to make history by ending New England’s attempt at football immortality.

At least neither team will have to worry about a frigid forecast in Arizona. On Sunday, New England beat San Diego in 23-degree temperatures at Foxborough, Mass., while New York edged Green Bay in subzero conditions at Lambeau Field.
The Super Bowl HQ Pick:

It’s hard not to bet against the favorite, but the money is going to be made by betting on the Underdog and hoping for a massive upset. Take the Giants to win and cover the 13.5 point spread. For up-to-date odds click here: Live Odds (from Yahoo Sports)

Articles:

Early Super Bowl betting drifts toward Giants

The game within the game for the Super Bowl has already begun. That would be the betting interest that the NFL championship generates.

Because of the twin factors of the Patriots going for a perfect season and the inclusion of the Giants, a team from the largest metro market in the country, the amount of money expected to be bet on the game will certainly set a record of more than $100 million in Nevada alone (the record is $94.5 million for Steelers-Seahawks in January 2006). And that’s the tip of the betting iceberg. Counting Internet, street wagers and private pools, the Super Bowl will generate up to a couple of billion dollars in gross wagering.

Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the traditional oddsmakers for Nevada casinos, started the line for the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl at New England favored by 14 points, with and over/under (combined points scored by both teams) of 55.

We’re still a long way from the Supe with the bulk of the public money yet to flex its muscle but the early cash has been overwhelmingly on the Giants. A recent look at the Vegas odds showed the major casinos out there lowering the spread to 12, 12 1/2 points. One big-time online site had the line all the way down to 11 1/2. The over-under also has been bet down to 53 1/2, 54.

Some of that movement is an infatuation with the surprising Giants. But another part is that the Patriots — who were just as perfect for pro-New England bettors as they were in the standings covering double-digit spreads through the first half of the season — are 2-8 ATS since early November. The Giants, on the other hand, have covered in seven of their last eight games (13-6 ATS overall).

Patriots Are Favored by 14 Points in Super Bowl

The New England Patriots are favored by two touchdowns over the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, the fourth-highest opening point spread in the 42-year history of the National Football League’s championship game.

The Patriots and Giants play Feb. 3 in Glendale, Arizona, after winning conference championships two days ago.

New England has an 18-0 record, including a 38-35 win over the Giants to end the regular season, and outscored its opponents by an average of 18.6 points. The Giants are 13-6 and won their three playoff games on the road as underdogs.

“Once you realize that you are always the underdog, that mentality fits in with some of the things that we believe in from an inspirational standpoint,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday at a news conference. “We have something to prove every time that we play.”

The biggest point spread for the Super Bowl was 18 points in 1969, when New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed a victory and then led his underdog team to a 16-7 upset over the Baltimore Colts in Miami.

In 1995, the San Francisco 49ers opened as 17 1/2-point favorites over the San Diego Chargers, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants. The line moved to 18 points and the 49ers covered the spread with a 49-26 rout.

Patriots’ First Title

When the Patriots won the first of their three Super Bowl titles in 2002, they opened as 15 1/2-point underdogs against the St. Louis Rams. The Patriots won 20-17 and then captured the NFL title again in 2004 and 2005.

“We’re just trying to beat the Giants,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said yesterday at a news conference in Foxborough, Massachusetts. “That’s all that matters. It’s not what their record is or what our record is or what kind of car anybody is driving or anything else. It’s about who plays better in two weeks and it’s preparation for that game.”

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, was in New York yesterday wearing a orthopedic brace on his right foot, the New York Post reported. He told Boston radio station WEEI that he’d be ready to face the Giants, the newspaper said.

Ten other teams have been favored by 10 or more points in the Super Bowl, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which advises Nevada sports books on betting lines. Last year’s game drew $93 million in legal wagers in Nevada.

Sparked by Loss

Coughlin and Giants quarterback Eli Manning said New York’s run of postseason success was sparked by the Dec. 29 loss to New England. Both teams played their starters at Giants Stadium even though they’d already clinched playoff berths and the game had no impact on the postseason matchups.

New York had a 12-point second-half lead before the Patriots rallied to become the first NFL team to complete the regular season with a 16-0 record. Manning threw four touchdown passes in the loss and hasn’t had a turnover in the Giants’ three playoff games since.

“We gave ourselves a shot to win, we fell short, but it got our confidence going,” Manning said yesterday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. “It got us playing good football, it got us back in a rhythm and from then on we have been on a hot streak. Hopefully we can keep that going, but we know they are a good team and we know what it is going to take to beat them.”

The Super Bowl HQ Pick:

It’s hard not to bet against the favorite, but the money is going to be made by betting on the Underdog and hoping for a massive upset. Take the Giants to win and cover the 13.5 point spread. For up-to-date odds click here: Live Odds (from Yahoo Sports)