With the days winding down to the 2016 Super Bowl 50 with the Championship game between the Carolina Panthers (1st NFC South 15-1-0) playing the Denver Broncos (1st AFC West 12-4-1) with the game being played at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California with the kick-off scheduled for 6:35 PM ET and seen on CBS TV.
For those that Bet on NFL and this year’s Super Bowl 50, the early Vegas odds have the Carolina Panthers are favored at -6 with the Over/under at 45 and -245 on the Money Line while the Denver Broncos are listed as the underdogs at +6 and +205 on the ML.
There seems to be a few reasons why the early odds are favoring the Carolina Panthers in this 2016 Super Bowl 50 event, and 3 reasons that we are aware of and 1st is the difference in the age of the QB’s, and 2nd is the convincing wins of the 2 teams and 3rd is the fun of wagering, and the fact that it’s hard for fans no to like the Black and Blue Panthers.
Many oddsmakers and wagering sites have the Panthers at -5.5 while we at SBG Global are stepped it up to the Panthers at -6 which is equal to 2 FG’s in the game, and if that is not your choice you can wait and watch the line movement moving closer to game day.
Going back to the reason we believe the Carolina Panthers are favored in this Super Bowl 50, as we mention earlier we start 1st with the age of the QB’s and it’s no secret that QB P. Manning has some years on Panthers QB C. Newton, and that’s being polite as actually P. Manning has some 13 years older than C. Newton. That would be like when P. Manning was getting ready for High School football C. Newton was just a toddler.
Having expelled that let’s now take a look at the 2 QB’s numbers, and we start with that in the 2015-16 season C. Newton rushed for some 637 yards, while P. Manning has run the ball in his 18 year career for a total of 667 yards. Yes, we know P. Manning is not a QB who runs the ball, and in his past 3 seasons he had negative rushing yards, which could indicate his age taking effect. That’s because the older you get the less you run the ball, and there are those that do, but they are few and far between and since P. Manning is a noted passing QB he doesn’t need to run except when he’s force out of the pocket.
So let’s take a look at their passing statistics. In the 2015-16 season we must note that QB P. Manning missed 6 games due to an injury, but for every TD he completed he had almost 2 intercepts, as he passed for 9 touchdowns and had 17 interceptions. On the other side QB C. Newton passed for 35 touchdowns and had 10 interceptions and that’s a clear 3-1 ration.
The 2nd factor we look at effecting the line movement is the convincing wins by the 2 teams. This season the Denver Broncos were fortunate to win the AFC Title, as the Chiefs were close to beating the Broncos in the playoff game but just could not get the victory. Plus throughout the playoffs this 2015-16 season the Broncos appeared to be a beatable team, and if the Steelers had a healthy roster the Broncos may have been watching on TV this Super Bowl 50, as the barely beat the Steelers of Pittsburgh in the divisional round 23-16.
Yes, they played very well in the AFC Title game with the Patriots, but just won the game 20-18 due to the Patriots missing an extra point in the closing minutes of that game. But the Broncos made it to the Super and we have to give them credit for that.
On the other side the Panthers came into this Super Bowl easily moving through the playoffs, as they had an amazing playoff game with the Seahawks of Seattle as the scored some 35 points in the first half going to half-time 35-0 over Seattle, and then defensively had to hold back Seattle who made an exciting comeback and almost upset the Panthers with the final score Carolina 31 and Seattle 24. Then they took on the Cardinals of Arizona for the NFC Title game and they had an easy 49-15 victory and moved on to this Super Bowl 50.
And the 3rd factor is the fun of making the picks in these NFL football games as a faithful football fan. Plus, it’s difficult for fans to not like the Black and Blue Carolina Panthers, the team that when the season started was expected to be out of the playoffs early in the 2015-16 season. The season started with their star WR K. Benjamin being injured in preseason training and went out on IR for the season. With that injury fans projected the Panthers to be done for the season.
On the contrary, the Panthers went through the season posting a league’s best record of 15-1, and the team with its dancing QB C. Newton moved the team into postseason play. 1st the beat the red hot Seahawks of Seattle and the routed the Cardinals of Arizona as if they were playing a college football team, and yes they moved on to this 2015-16 NFL Super Bowl Title game, the biggest game of an NFL season, and maybe of all sports events, and the fans and the Panthers team seem to have more fun and it’s a catching trend.