Super Bowl 50 from Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco on Sunday Feb. 7 should be a good one with the 14-4 Denver Broncos battling-out with the 17-1 Carolina Panthers for this season’s NFL crown. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on CBS.
Very few football experts gave the Broncos much a chance to beat New England for the second time on their home field this season, but they hung on to win 20-18 in this past Sunday’s AFC title game as three-point home underdogs. It was just the first time they covered against the spread in their last six games and if you go back to early November they are just 3-6-2 ATS in their last 11 outings. The total stayed UNDER the closing 45-point line and it has now stayed UNDER in five of Denver’s last seven games.
Much was made about the matchup between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in that game, but in the end it was more about Denver’s crushing defense shutting the Patriots down when it had to the most. The big storyline in Super Bowl 50 is bound to be about Manning following in the footsteps of John Elway with a Super Bowl victory in what could be the final game of his career, but it is still going to come down to the Broncos’ defense doing the same thing to Carolina if that dream ending is going to come true.
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The Panthers had to sweat-out a furious second-half rally by Seattle in a 31-24 victory in the Divisional Round after leading that game 31-0 at the half. This past Sunday’s 49-15 romp over Arizona was never in doubt and they easily covered as three-point home favorites to go 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games. The total went OVER in both of those playoff games and it has now gone OVER in seven of Carolina’s last nine games overall.
It appears that Cam Newton is pretty much a lock to win league MVP this season after throwing for 3,837 yards and 35 touchdowns in the regular season. He added another 496 passing yards and three touchdown throws in two playoff games and against the Cardinals he rushed for 47 yards and two more scores. Carolina had the most opportunistic defense in the NFL this season with a league-high 39 takeaways and linebacker Luke Kuechly kept things going in the postseason with two interceptions returned for touchdowns.
The Broncos are 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight playoff games, but they have covered ATS in four of their last six games against a team with a SU winning record. The total has stayed UNDER in five of their last six games in the postseason.
The Panthers are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games in the playoffs and they are 10-4 ATS in their last 13 games following a SU win. The total has gone OVER in their last four postseason games.
These two teams last met in the 2012 regular season with Denver cruising to a 36-14 victory as a 3.5-point home favorite. The total went OVER the 46.5-point closing line.
