Superbowl XLIII Prop Bets

Superbowl XLIII will be played on Sunday (2/1) and everyone is making their preparations on where they will watch, eat and finally what to bet on. The great thing about the superbowl is there are tons of different bets you can place since offshore sportsbooks count on this as their heaviest betting day of the year and want to make sure there are plenty of bets. Over the past week they have been releasing all the different prop bets that you can make on the 2009 superbowl.

If you are having a superbowl party download our free Superbowl XLIII Prop Bet Sheet.  You can use it for online betting or as a party game using the sheet with points assigned for each correct bet.

Superbowl XLIII Spread

Arizona Cardinals (7)  vs Pittsburgh Steelers (-7)

Kickoff is on 6:20 p.m. EST

Funny Prop Bets for Superbowl XLIII – Degenerate’s Bread and Butter

• 1st coaches challenge
• first timeout
• first play

Superbowl XLIII Trivia -

How much does a superbowl XLIII commercial cost? – $3 million

What channel will be airing the superbowl? – NBC

Halftime entertainment for the 2009 Superbowl? – Bruce Springsteen

Where to bet Online for Superbowl XLIII – Best Superbowl Sportsbook

Looking for a sportsbook to place a bet? Check out the SpreadWeekly recommended superbowl sportsbook picks:

Bet Jamacia

Bodog Sportsbook

Bookmaker

NFL AFC/NFC Championship Games – Matchups, Spreads, Predictions

The best weekend of the NFL season is here. Sure the Super Bowl is the perfect excuse to drink yourself into a comma by halftime and drop $500 on the coin-toss prop bet, but the Conference Championship games offer Super Bowl-like drama with half the hype and no guests to entertain. This year’s matchups offer up a little something for everyone. In the AFC, it’s all about nasty, lock-up-the-kids defense with the Baltimore Ravens visiting Pittsburgh to battle the Steelers. Over in the NFC, it’s the offenses that will featured as Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and the surprising Arizona Cardinals host Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Philadelphia Eagles at Arizona Cardinals

Game Time: Sunday, January 18 at 3:00pm EST

Spread: Philadelphia -4, O/U: 47

Weather: N/A (Dome)

Preview:

Even after shutting down the #2 rushing team in the NFL and then going into Carolina and blowing out the Panthers 33-13 as 10-point dogs, the oddsmakers still don’t believe in the Cardinals. Arizona came back home to find themselves entering Sunday’s game as a 4-point underdog to the Eagles. It seems the Cardinals just can’t shake the perception they built up during the regular season as a mediocre-at-best team that only got into the playoffs because they were in a weak division. What the public is forgetting is that Arizona basically had the division won in Week 10. Now, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t or shouldn’t have performed better towards the end of the season, but it’s got to be hard to muster up playoff-like intesity when you look down the standings and see the Forty Niners, Rams and Seattle. The funny thing is, the Eagles were 5-5-1 and playing as bad or worse than the Cardinals at around the same point in the year, but now, all of a sudden, they have become the feel good, Cinderella story. East Coast media bias anyone? But I digress. This game will be determined by Arizona’s ability to pick up Jim Johnson’s blitz schemes and give Warner enough protection to find his two star receivers – Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin (who is listed as questionable after missing last week’s game, but you have to think he’s going to play in this one) and the Eagles getting Brian Westbrook going against a suddenly stout Arizona defense. Judging by the over/under (47),it looks like the oddsmakers think both of those things will happen and each team will get into the endzone at least a few times. So it could very well be a matter of who has the ball last. Who would you want at quarterback with two minutes left and a trip to the Super Bowl at stake – McNabb or Warner? I say give me the guy that’s been there twice and has two freakish receivers at his disposal. I’m sorry but Jason Avant just doesn’t scare me.

Prediction: Arizona 28, Philadelphia 24

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

Game Time: Sunday, January 18 at 6:30pm EST

Spread: Pittsburgh -6, O/U: 34

Weather: Snow showers, high 29 degrees

Preview:

Let me put it this way, if I don’t see Ray Lewis physically remove one of Santonio Holmes’ limbs, I’ll consider the game a letdown. This is one of those rare games that could actually live up to all the hype. Bitter, cold weather, bad blood, plenty of trash talk and, oh, did I mention the winner instantly becomes the favorite to win the Super Bowl? Despite what looks, at least on paper, to be a tight defensive battle all the way down to the final seconds, the Steelers are currently 6-point favorites.  Clearly, the oddsmakers aren’t liking the chances of Ravens’ rookie quarterback Joe Flacco going into Pittsburgh and performing well. They could be right, but Baltimore isn’t shy about taking its share of three-and-outs and leaning on Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest of the defense, so don’t expect to see Flacco throw more than 15-20 passes, unless the game gets out of hand early. The Steelers offensive line will have to play better than it has for most of the year if they want Ben Roethlesberger to be able to recognize his children. Although, if Willie Parker can play half as well as he did against the Chargers, Big Ben might not have to take too many hits.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 19, Baltimore 10

NFL Playoffs – Divisional Round: Matchups, Predictions, Spreads

Week two of the NFL Playoffs features some compelling matchups and even more interesting betting lines. The Tennessee Titans dominated the regular season (13-3 overall, 12-4 ATS), but were never really taken seriously as the best team in the league. Now they have to play host to a nasty and red-hot Baltimore Ravens team that could care less about playing another road playoff game. If the Titans win and cover the spread (-3 at the time of this post), it would validate their regular season performance and all of a sudden make them the favorite coming out of the AFC, but a loss would give credence to all those who said they weren’t as good as their record. The other AFC matchup sees the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting a San Diego Chargers team that squeaked into the playoffs (8-8 overall, 7-8-1 ATS), but then last week beat a Colts team that had won nine straight and was the sexy pick to go all the way. With momentum in San Diego’s favor after pulling off two must wins, and Darren Sproles making everyone forget about LT, many bettors may be tempted to jump on the relatively large spread (Pittsburgh -6 at the time of this post) or even take the Chargers outright.

The NFC matchups don’t seem to be quite as strong, at least not on paper. ESPN will do its best to hype the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants game, but we’ve already seen them play each other twice this season. Nevertheless, this should be a pretty decent game. Can the Giants find a way to subdue the Eagles’ blitz schemes, something they were unable to do in their late-season regular season matchup? Which Donovan McNabb will show up? The quarterback who has led the Eagles on another late season surge, or the lethargic, turnover-prone McNabb who got benched against the Ravens? Even the spread (Giants -4 at the time of this post) is intriguing. Just high enough to strongly consider the Eagles covering on the road, but just low enough to think you’re getting a great value on the Giants at home. In the other Divisional Round NFC game, the Carolina Panthers host the suddenly not so atrocious Arizona Cardinals. A great Carolina defense against a high-powered Arizona offense. Too bad nobody’s going to watch this one. No, we’ll watch because it’s the NFL playoffs. But this game is completely overshadowed by the other three and is getting absolutely no press. What should be getting some headlines, however, is the spread. Carolina is currently a 10 point home favorite. That’s an awfully big number for a playoff game, especially against a team that showed that it at least might consider running the ball, and, more importantly, could actually stop the run. The Panthers are very similar to the Falcons – everything is setup by that dominate running game. If Arizona can do what it did last week and get the Panthers out of their comfort zone, bettors with the stomach to take them outright at +340 could be in for a very nice payday. Then again, Jake Delhomme is no rookie.

Now let’s take a closer look at each of these NFL Divisional Round matchups.

Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans

Game Time: Saturday, January 10 @ 4:30 pm EST

Spread: Tennessee -3, O/U: 34.5

Weather: Mostly Sunny, 52 degrees, light wind from south.

Preview:

Ed Reed. I’m tempted to just leave it at that, but apparently Google likes content, so I’ll add some filler. But seriously, did you notice anybody else on the field in last week’s Ravens/Dolphins game? I’m sure Ray Lewis and the other Ravens’ defensive standouts played great. After all, they totally overwhelmed and dominated Chad Pennington and the Dolphins, but Reed was by far the most visible and impactful player in the game. If he can come close to matching that performance this week against Kerry Collins, the Titans are done. Collins goes into this game with some bad memories against the Ravens as Baltimore dominated Collins and the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. There is some good news for the Titans. Tennessee has already beaten the Ravens once this year(13-10 (Ten -1) on 10/05 at Baltimore),  so they should feel relatively confident, especially with this game at their home field. More importantly, they get Albert Haynesworth back. It’s rare that a defensive tackle is the most important player on a playoff team, but that’s definitely the case with the Titans. They are a completely different team without him in the lineup. As well as Joe Flacco has played, he’s still a rookie and if the Titans can stuff the run and make Flacco try to beat them, they could very well cover the three-point spread and reserve a spot in the conference championship game.

Prediction: Baltimore 17, Tennessee 14

Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers

Game Time: Saturday, January 10 @ 8:15 pm EST

Spread: Carolina -10, O/U: 48.5

Weather: Sunny, 50 degrees, light wind

Preview:

It might not have the subplots of the Chargers vs. Steelers, the high-profile of the Eagles vs. Giants or the throwback, smashmouth allure of the Ravens vs. Titans, but don’t sleep on this one. Carolina (12-4 overall, 9-6-1 ATS) was the #2 seed in the NFC for a reason. They have two dynamic running backs (does anyone outside of Carolina even know or care that Deangelo Williams was the best RB in the league this year?), a veteran QB and a premier playmaker at wide receiver. And their defense isn’t too shabby either, although their overall numbers this year weren’t as impressive as they have been in the past. After seeing the YouTube video of Chris Berman losing it off camera and going off about the power of Canadian painkillers, it wasn’t all that shocking to see him go off on a tirade after the Cardinals’ less-than-stellar performance against the Vikings and Patriots. But still, it’s not easy to get Berman out of his jolly mood, especially when he knows the cameras are rolling, so you know Arizona must have been playing really bad. And they were. But the playoffs are a whole new season, as has been evidenced so many times, including just last year. The Cardinals were a completely different team last week against a strong Atlanta squad. They dusted off Edgerrin James, they completely shutdown Michael Turner and they were able to keep Kurt Warner upright for the entire 60 minutes. But the oddsmakers aren’t buying the transformation. Carolina is laying a hefty 10 points this week (although the early square action is heavy on Arizona, so we could see significant line movement between now and kickoff).

Prediction: Arizona 21, Carolina 35

Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants

Game Time: Sunday, January 11 @ 1:00 pm EST

Spread: Giants -4, O/U: 40

Weather: Light snow, 37 degrees, light wind

Preview:

These NFC East rivals split their two games in the regular season, with both teams winning on the road. The Giants won on 11/9 36-31 (NY +3) and the Eagles won the game following Plaxico-Gate  20-14 on 12/7 (Phi +6.5). If you believe in momentum then the Eagles seem like they have a pretty good shot. They ended the regular season on a tear, winning four out of their last five, including a complete undressing of the Cowboys in a do-or-die game for both teams, and they brought that dominance into Minnesota where they took Tarvaris Jackson to school and contained Adrian Peterson. On the other hand, the Giants had last week off for a reason. They were clearly the best team in the NFC this year, and arguably the best team in the entire NFL. Not to mention they are the defending champions. The loss of Burress definitely hurts as he was a great option in the redzone and someone who always commanded the defense’s attention. The key for the Giants will be protecting Eli Manning. The Eagles ate him up in their December matchup, and the Giants have no chance if that happens again this week.

Prediction: Eagles 20, Giants 28

San Diego Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers

Game Time: Sunday, January 11 @ 4:45 pm EST

Spread: Steelers -6, O/U: 38

Weather: Snow showers, 35 degrees, wind at 11mph from WSW

Preview:

These two teams played once in the regular season in a game that featured the now infamous Troy Polamalu last second touchdown that wasn’t (this has got to be one of the top 5 last second plays that meant everything to bettors while having no effective on the actual outcome of the game). But what was also significant about that Steelers 11-10 win (San Diego +4.5) on Nov 16 is that it really doesn’t provide many clues about what to expect this week. It was a sloppy game from the opening kickoff to that bizarre final play and it you just can’t expect to see those types of performances in the second round of the playoffs. This matchup is very similar in context to the Eagles/Giants game. One team struggled through the regular season, got hot late, won their wild-card game and is now carryin a ton of momentum with them into this week. The other played great in the regular season, thereby earning a bye and as a result losing the hype and expectations that come with a win in the playoffs. But who’s to say the Steelers (or Giants for that matter) don’t have any momentum of their own. Confidence is a form of momentum, and Pittsburgh has no reason not to feel confident at this point. And it’s foolish to underestimate the power of an extra week’s rest during an NFL season, especially when it comes in Week 18. Oh and did I mention the Steelers happen to be really, really good? They are very much like the Colts of 2006 – a great team that usually gets plenty of publicity, but went through the entire regular season under the radar because all they did was win – no drama, no streaks, no controversy.

Prediction: Chargers 17, Steelers 24

NFL Playoffs Odds – Wild Card Round Spread

The NFL playoffs start tomorrow with the wild card round. All the NFL games this weekend have the away teams favored which is very rare for playoff games. Though, the odds for the games are close with 3.5 points the widest margin.

If you are looking to place a bet try Bookmaker.com.

NFL Football Spread

NFL Playoff Games on Saturday:

Atlanta Falcons (even) at Arizona Cardinals (even)

• Weather:  61° F, Light Wind (SSW at 7 mph)

Indianapolis Colts (-1) at San Diego Chargers (1)

• Weather: 56° F, Light Wind (SW at 6mph)

NFL Playoff Games on Sunday:

Baltimore Ravens (-3.5) at Miami Dolphins (3.5)

• Weather: 78° F, Medium Wind (ESE at 12mph)

Philadelphia Eagles (-3) at Minnesota Vikings (3)

• Indoor

View the complete NFL playoff spread with line history.

The NFL Playoff teams with bye’s are:  Titans, Steelrs, Giants and Panthers