Patriots Open as Early Super Bowl Favorites

by Chris Pokorny on Jan 23, 2012 8:00 PM EST

When these two teams met in the Super Bowl four years ago, the New York Giants stunned the New England Patriots to win the game. Both teams squared off during the regular season in 2011, with the Giants again staging a comeback to take down the Patriots, in New England, by a final score of 24-20. That didn't stop the odds makers (specifically at Bovada) from listing the Patriots as three point favorites for Super Bowl XLVI:

New York Giants +3
New England Patriots -3
Total Points Over/Under 55

"We could not have asked for a better Super Bowl matchup from a betting and a fans perspective. Considering this is the rematch from the great upset of 2008 I would expect this to be the highest bet Super Bowl this century and well surpassing what was already a heavily bet 2008 Super Bowl which was a disaster for bookmakers, losing 7 figures easily. It is no secret that we are not in the best position on futures with the Giants being our biggest loss and the Patriots being the biggest winner, but with the line only set at New England -3 I am very curious to see if the public will finally back off the Giants considering they have been killing us every week for the last 2 months."

-Kevin Bradley, Bovada.lv Sportsbook Manager

Given the Patriots' better record during the regular season, I'm not the least bit surprised to see them favored here. The Giants have won five consecutive "must-win games" (two of which closed out the regular season), all of which came against some pretty tough competition. Meanwhile, the Patriots had a cakewalk against Denver and a victory over Baltimore.

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Comments

Take the over, dont sweat the finish and then go to the bank.

Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen

by realmccoy on Jan 23, 2012 8:52 PM EST reply actions

Awful tough to beat any team twice in the same year, so I’d go with the Pats like the bookies are doing. And I really don’t like the Pats

by OldTimeDawg on Jan 23, 2012 9:18 PM EST reply actions

Giants at +3 is a lock.

by Brownie's Year on Jan 23, 2012 9:32 PM EST reply actions

I agree. The sad fact is that means Eli Manning will have two Super Bowl Trophies, which is unbelievable. I think that New England has a major problem on defense. I like Giants 31- 24 over New England

by champion64 on Jan 24, 2012 8:09 AM EST up reply actions

Agreed, it was total Bedlam at my house, (sorry married a Giants/Yankees/Knicks/Rangers fan..but at least she is a fan). Giants beat the Falcons, Packers, 49ers to get there, Pats Broncos and Ratbirds. They have a D and an O…it might not be close.

"There's a gleam men, there's a gleam!" Marty

by Red-Right-88 on Jan 24, 2012 10:54 AM EST up reply actions

My first thought was 24-17 Giants, but then I remembered that they won’t be playing outside. I don’t know what stats say, but I feel that NE is probably going to play better in a dome. Put another way, I think your 31-24 NE looks about right.

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened."
— Winston S. Churchill
I have the best wife - ever.

by JustBob on Jan 24, 2012 6:04 PM EST up reply actions

I wonder if he’ll rub it in Peyton’s face about being the superior Manning if he wins.

I should have made my screen name DerekAndersonIsMyBrother

by Doc's Kid on Jan 24, 2012 8:43 PM EST up reply actions

I thought for sure the Giants would open as a 3pt. favorite. This line surprises me. Giants are returning something like 8 starters from their last SB team – the Pats? 4.

What does that MEAN - TO PLAY US OUT?!!?!?

by DaveDawg09 on Jan 24, 2012 3:54 PM EST up reply actions

On impulse, I think the exact same thing, but Vegas is in it for the money, apparently that the kind of line that will create similar action on both sides. But here’s something to remember: the only losing Super Bowl for Vegas sports books is Super Bowl XLII, Giants upsetting the Pats in ’07.

"The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins."

by Simmsinns on Jan 24, 2012 5:51 PM EST up reply actions