Wednesday, January 28, 2009

NFL Football Sports Betting - Super Bowl XLIII - Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals

This Super Bowl is a very tough game to handicap. It looks like Vegas made this line perfect. If it was a regular season game, I probably won’t bet it. My record is 53-33 on the rest of the season, and I already have 6 prop bets going on this game.

That said, it’s the freaking Super Bowl, so let’s try to find an edge.

It’s an odd match up and one that clearly favors the Steelers. The Steelers have a solid defense and a potent offense. Based on the Cards regular season play, this line is a little low. Arizona’s defense was middle of the road, they’re running game suffered, and the greatest weapon that this team had was the pass.

Pittsburgh was also challenged more during the regular season. They went 4-4 against teams that were 500 or better while the Cards went 2-6 against winning teams. Arizona also lost 4 of their last 6 heading into the playoffs.

But what Arizona has accomplished in the playoffs has been great. Their defense has been able to create turnovers, they have revitalized their running game, and their passing game has made Larry Fitzgerald and Kurt Warner household names.

In fact if you just handicap this Super Bowl based on these teams playoff performances, this line would favor the Cards. So based on these teams’ playoff performances, I'm betting:

Arizona Cardinals +7 (-115) over Pittsburgh Steelers

That’s the pick. Let’s root for the dog.

See my prop bets 1 and prop bets 2 post for some good Super Bowl props.

Good Luck

The Online Sports Bettor