» January 28, 2010
By Staff Writer
For anyone that pays attention to NFL power
rankings throughout the season, the writing for this matchup has been on the
wall for months. As I'm sure you've all heard, Indianapolis will meet New Orleans in Super Bowl XLIV and for a lot of bettors it truly is the two teams that
most deserve to be in the show.
Online
sportsbooks have the current line at Colts -6 with a Total of 56. Once the
opening line was posted, money showed up quickly on the favored Indianapolis
Colts at SPORTSBETTING.com.
The Colts continued to be the side most players were looking at, as over the
fist couple of days of wagering action 70% of the money is on Peyton Manning
and crew. The line has moved to -6. The Over/Under betting volume has been
pretty balanced, with a slight lean to the Over
Indianapolis
was 14-0 before sitting Peyton Manning down in a Week 16 loss to the New York
Jets while New Orleans went 13-0 before heading into the playoffs on a
three-game losing streak. Looking at results from the past two weeks it appears
that for coaches Caldwell and Peyton, this was all part of the master plan.
The Colts made things up to their fans with
wins over Baltimore and the Jets. In the Big Easy the Saints returned to their
regular season ways, averaging 38 points per game in wins against Arizona and Minnesota. It's the first time since 1993 that two No. 1 seeds have met in
the Super Bowl.
Manning's offense is capable of moving the
ball against any opponent. When coverage on WR Wayne and TE Clark is too tight,
Manning goes to his youngsters Garcon and Collie to move the chains. If RB
Addai needs a spell, rookie RB Donald Brown is there to take carries. But the
biggest difference between what the Colts have faced lately (since basically
Week 10team is capable of answering right back when Indy drives down for a
score.
New Orleans
scored 510 points during the regular season and has a deep scoring threat
matched by a running game that combines speed, quickness and power. RBs Thomas
and Bush carried the ball 21 times for 69 yards last week vs. the massive
Viking D-line wall and will no doubt find success against the average Colts
front seven, too. Minnesota's coverage was breaking down and became even worse
after CB Griffin was injured. The Colts were stable against a vanilla passing game
from the Jets but are going to be challenged trying to keep pace with speedy WR
Colston, Henderson and Meachem.
Pass rush from veteran Colt linemen Freeney
and Mathis will need to be at its best but QB Brees does not go down often and
in the NFC Final Brees was sacked just once.
When online sportsbooks released the
opening lines for this game the public attention flowed towards the favorite
and the "Over", as it often does in primetime, stand alone games.
There is one undeniable fact for bettors on this game and that is that without
the benefit of five turnovers, New Orleans would likely not even be involved
with this conversation.
The Over/Under number of 56 is the highest
total ever released for a Super Bowl and in six games since 1994 when the total
was 50 points or higher, results were just 1 over to 5 unders.
We will likely see more line movement in
the next week as the build-up toward the big game continues to grow, be sure
and check your SPORTSBETTING.com
for the hundreds of prop-style bets available for Super Bowl XLIV.
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