Top Reasons To Bet The Under In 2017 NFL Super Bowl LI

If Super Bowl LI is like most of its predecessors, then it simply won’t live up to the offensive hype that people are spreading about the game. If you don’t believe me, check out the clip below. Remember when people thought the Denver Broncos would use that high-octane offense and overwhelm Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense in Super Bowl XLVIII? All it took was one bad snap to send the momentum in Seattle’s favor, and they never looked back, trouncing Denver in a 43-8 torching. So when we see Matt Ryan take the field for his first Super Bowl ever — with a career of bad playoff performances following him before the divisional and conference championship wins this year — you have the same sort of pressure that caused the Broncos to wilt in humiliating fashion on the game’s biggest stage. The over/under total for this game is 59 — larger than it has been for any other Super Bowl. There’s a reason why point totals don’t get this big on the game’s biggest night — nerves, and defense.

Top Reasons To Bet The Under In 2017 NFL Super Bowl LI

   

The struggle is real — just ask Peyton Manning

Matt Ryan has thrown 38 touchdown passes this season, and the talk is that he will get the NFL’s MVP award when everything is said and done, because of the dynamic touch he has brought to this offense. Well, how many touchdown passes did Peyton Manning throw in 2013, the regular season which led up to Super Bowl XLVIII? He threw 55. So half again as many, plus one. A lot of people talk about Ryan’s 9.3 yards-per-attempt average this season — but Manning had 8.3. His rating for the season — 115.1 — was the second best of his career and the best he ever posted in Denver. But all it took was that one snap, and a three-and-out on the next drive, to hand all that momentum over to Seattle. Still wondering? Think about Dallas’ Dak Prescott. The Cowboys also have a terrific offense this year, thanks to a line that is all-world and a running back that simply dazzles every time he carries the ball. But there’s a reason why no rookie quarterback has ever won a Super Bowl ring — there’s just too much on the line, and rookies make mistakes. You can talk about Dallas’ defense in the first half of their divisional round loss to Green Bay, but it was that interception that Prescott threw on a quick pass off to his left — a pass that just required he look before he threw it — that ended one of the second-half drives that would have put Dallas in front to stay. So that playoff pressure? It’s a real thing, and it gets bigger at every stage.

Don’t underestimate that Falcon “D”

The Packers put up 34 points in Dallas in their divisional round win. Then they went to Atlanta and put up…21, but those all came in the second half, when the Falcons had built a 31-point lead and could relax on defense a bit. Aaron Rodgers had an interception, the Packers chipped in a fumble, while the Falcons did not have a single turnover. The Falcons had two sacks — while the Packers didn’t register any. When the game was competitive, Aaron Rodgers — the one with 40 touchdown passes in the regular season — couldn’t move his team. Can the Falcons hold the Patriots too? Maybe not to the tune of a 31-0 third quarter lead, but they can definitely hold serve with New England…as long as the Falcons don’t give in early to that pressure I mentioned above.