Super Bowl 50 Odds
What's the old saying? Defense wins championships? Well, the odds makers are abandoning that old axiom when it comes to this year's title clash. The Carolina…
What’s the old saying? Defense wins championships? Well, the odds makers are abandoning that old axiom when it comes to this year’s title clash. The Carolina Panthers opened as a -4.5 Super Bowl 50 odds favorite over the Denver Broncos, who sport the league’s best defense with a 283.1 yards per game allowed average.
That line, of course, has everything to do with the Broncos offense and what most anticipate will be its inability to move the ball effectively on a Panthers stop unit that allowed just 323 yards and 19.2 points per game this season.
Carolina cannot afford to overlook anything, though. Denver posted a paltry 568 yards in playoff meetings with the Steelers and Patriots while Peyton Manning completed just 54.9 percent of his passes; nevertheless, the Broncos prevailed in both games thanks to their aforementioned defense.
Denver’s defense will find a different challenge in Cam Newton and the Panthers, though. While the Steelers and Patriots sport two of the league’s best offenses, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady made for fairly easy targets.
Roethlisberger is, of course, elusive in the pocket, but an injury to his throwing shoulder, no doubt, made him a bit more cautious. The Broncos sacked him three times for a total of 28 yards. Denver did far more damage to Brady, taking down the two-time NFL MVP four times while hitting him a total of 20.
Newton’s ability to move in and out of the pocket and burn defenses with his legs should help mitigate Denver’s no holds barred pass rush.
The odds makers are, obviously, expecting as much, but more than that, they probably see Manning, who might be suiting up for his last NFL game, failing to overcome a Panthers defense that led the league with 24 interceptions.
Super Bowl 50 is scheduled to kickoff at 6:30pm ET on Sunday, February 7; coverage of the championship game, which is taking place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, will be provided by CBS.
Super Bowl 50 Betting Trends:
Denver is 5-1 both straight up and against the spread in its last six games playing as an underdog coming off a win in which it scored 20 or fewer points.
Carolina is 6-0 straight up and 4-2 against the spread in its last six games playing as a favorite of -4.5 or more coming off a home win in which it scored 30 or more points.
Teams playing as a favorite and coming off a game in which they finished +4 or better in turnover margin are 3-13-1 against the spread.
Super Bowl 50 Odds: NFL Point Spreads Provided by Bovada.lv
Carolina Panthers -4.5 (-120), Over 45.5 (-110), -200 (Moneyline)
Denver Broncos +4.5 (+100), Under 45.5 (-110), +170 (Moneyline)