When bettors are about to bet on the Super Bowl MVP, they have to ask themselves how they envision the big season finale unfolding. If, as the regular season suggests, the NFL’s top offense forges ahead with its world class aerial attack against the league’s most vaunted defense, something will have to break. The question is, if Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos decide to stick with the game plan that’s worked for them so well this season, can Richard Sherman and the Seahawks do anything about it?
Peyton the Favorite
Naturally their traditional game plan puts a lot of the pressure on Manning; the future Hall of Famer is obviously the key to Denver’s successful passing game which may well be the only force on Earth capable of nullifying Seattle’s crippling defensive pressure. If Denver’s passing game was simply good, then it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to picture Seattle’s D overwhelming the offense, but Manning-led teams have never been confused as “simply good”.
Not surprisingly, with 11/10 odds of winning the Super Bowl MVP, No. 18 is the overwhelming favorite to win the award. Sherman, in contrast, has 20/1 MVP Super Bowl odds, a relatively low figure no doubt at least partially impacted by the fact that a defensive player hasn’t won it since Dexter Jackson did with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2003.
Will Manning and the Broncos just avoid Sherman as Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers did? That would limit Sherman’s ability to shine in the stat sheet and it’s not like the Bronco’s don’t have the overabundance of passing options.
QBs Hold the Crown
Just below Manning on the MVP Super Bowl online betting odds is a two-way tie for second between Seattle’s quarterback Russell Wilson and running back Marshawn Lynch. The former plays the more favorable position for this sort of thing (seriously, six of the past seven award winners were QBs, including each of the past four), while the latter is the club’s designated workhorse.
With 15/4 odds, either Wilson or Lynch could easily step into the spotlight and it’s rather difficult to expect anybody else powering the organization to a victory at Super Bowl XLVIII. Let’s not forget that Seattle is the underdog on the SuperBowl lines, so it’s not unexpected that their alpha dogs come with a higher potential payout than Denver’s.
Denver’s rushing defense had more success than its passing defense did over the course of the regular season, but similarly, Seattle’s running game was by far more effective than its passing game. Will Pete Carroll, then, continue to plug away with Lynch on the ground despite the matchup or could a big game from Wilson and his receivers unlock the victory?
It may seem odd for a squad to deviate from its bread and butter in the Super Bowl, but if Lynch is stymied by Denver’s adequate ground defense, and Manning applies pressure offensively, they may have no other option than to go to the air and hope for the best.
The Rest of the Best
Other candidates to win, though given longer SuperBowl Betting odds, are Seattle receiver Percy Harvin (18/1) – who missed all but one game during the regular season, as well as the NFC Championship – and Denver running back Knowshon Moreno (20/1) – whose 10 touchdowns and ability to catch defenses on their heels is not to be overlooked. The current Super Bowl point spread is -3 for Denver.