Betting Predators Staff
Staff Note: ONE MORE TIME?! Yes folks, the Betting Predators team is here once again to help you hunt down the best bets for "The Big Game" on Sunday, with another assortment of Super Bowl LVI best bet breakdowns, game props and player prop picks below. Our goal with this free article below is to gather the best bets from some of the sharpest minds across the sports betting industry we know, including our team members and contributors at the Betting Predators, so that we can all work together to hunt down the best Super Bowl bets for you. If you missed Part 1 of our Super Bowl LVI Prop-A-Palooza best bet column, simply go to the home page of our website to find the link or click here to access the free article.
We also have multiple Super Bowl LVI free podcast episodes available where featuring Betting Predators handicappers such as Sleepy J, Dave Essler, Steve Rieder, Chris Dell and Coach J-Rod break down all of their favorite best bets for the big game. You can listen to these episodes for free on any of your favorite podcast apps/audio players or scroll to the bottom of this article to listen directly from Spotify.
Chris Dell (@MaddJournalist) - Evan McPherson OVER 1.5 Field Goal Attempts @ BetUS -165: I’m not one for typically eating this type of vig, but I love this play as a supplement to my best overall Super Bowl prop of Bengals made field goals OVER 1.5, which I wrote about in our Prop-A-Palooza Part I column. McPherson as we all know has gone 4-for-4 in all three playoff games for Cincinnati so far, and he’s also now gone over 1.5 made field goals AND over 1.5 field goal attempts in 7 straight and 9 of 10 games. On the season as a whole there were 2 instances in which McPherson attempted multiple field goals but only made less than 1.5. Now granted, he hasn't done this since October 10th in a Week 5 overtime loss to Green Bay (hence the “Money Mac” moniker), but the possibility also remains he could be trotted out to attempt a near-60 yarder and come up just short. I also do like derivatives of this prop which include Bengals to have the longest made field goal of the game and both teams to make field goals of more than 32 yards. For now though and for the sake of my second favorite overall SBLVI prop, gimme some more Money Mac McPherson. It’s not often we get the combination of conservative play-calling, red zone inefficiencies (CIN offense), red zone supremacy (LAR defense) and a rookie kicker who has ice in his veins and has made 35 of 37 kicks since that Week 5 game I mentioned above. That’s an average of 2.6 attempts and 2.5 makes per game since, in addition to an average of 4/4 in the postseason so far. Quite a few books have this prop lined around -200, which is far more accurate than this BetUS number.
Sleepy J (@SleepyJ_Pregame) - Odell Beckham Jr. OVER 60.5 Receiving Yards @ PointsBet -115: I also like OBJ to score a touchdown here, which you can find at +120 on DraftKings, but I’ll have my bigger bet on the receiving yards for the Rams’ rising star receiver. OBJ has a 21.6% target share and 26.5% Air Yards share to go along with four EZ targets since Week 16 and has seen his usage/target/efficiency numbers all increase across the board. With no Tyler Higbee playing on Sunday we’re going to see more targets for Kupp and OBJ, and with the Bengals at the very least scheming more for Kupp, OBJ could beat this easily with just one or two splash plays over the middle of the field, also making his longest reception over live.
Steve Rieder (@AvoidTheVig) - Total Accepted Penalties UNDER 10.5 +105 @ Bet365: Kudos to our researcher/contributor Ben Martinez (see his writeup) below and Chris Dell for teaming up to find this line, as nearly every book is currently hanging 9.5 with many juiced to the under. The fact we can get under 10.5 at plus money here is something I heavily endorse and love the value on. It's also a big reason it made the top of our list on our Top Penalty Props/Officiating Crew Breakdown free article on the Betting Predators website. Head referee Ron Torbert's games are 12-6 to the under 10.5 accepted penalties this season, including under 10.5 in 11 of his last 14 games and 8 of his last 9 dating back to Week 11.
Justin “Smoove” Everett (@Smoove_702) - Matthew Stafford OVER 279.5 passing yards @ BetRivers -110: Stafford finished the regular season with the 4th best QBR and averaged 287.4 passing yards per game and that has actually increased in the Rams’ 3 postseason games to 301.6 so far. Because of this I see value in taking the over on his passing yards in this spot. The Bengals also have the 9th worst defense in DVOA against the pass and the Rams have multiple receivers that can make big plays all over the field, led by Cooper Kupp who just won OPOY.
Nick Malorgio (@SammyCapper2) - Evan McPherson OVER 7.5 Kicking Points @ Caesars -120: The rookie kicker has gone over his “KickingPoints” prop in 63% games this season, including seven straight. During the playoffs, he’s averaging 13.3 KickingPoints per game and has made four FGs in each game. If narratives are your thing, well, then McPherson needs just three more field goals made to break the playoff record, and if he can get four, he’ll also have the most playoff games with four field goals made.
Stuart “Monotone” Football (@MonotoneFootbal) Bengals OVER 1.5 Field Goals Made @ DraftKings -115: While it might look easy, going 3-3 from 50+ in the playoffs, 12-12 on field goals, and only missing two extra points on 52 attempts during the season may just seem like your run of the mill kicker stuff, it's actually really freaking impressive. Money Mac is single-handedly making kickers cool. 100% success rate and 100% accuracy on 16 kicks in the playoffs. Evan McPherson was built for playoff football. Sign me up.
Rob Norton (@Norton0723) - Bengals To Have Longest Field Goal Made @ BetMGM -115: Evan McPherson has multiple 50+ yard made field goals throughout the playoffs now while Matt Gay came up way short on a 47-yarder in the NFC championship game. There's been reports of him being a bit limited throughout the playoffs so that could be playing into it a bit, which still makes it very surprising that McPherson is + money right now. I'll still take the value here given that McPherson has 45+ yard field goals made in 4 of his past 6 games and Gay struggled to make one of his 40-yard attempts last time out.
Drue “Schaefer The Sharp” Crookston (@DrueSchaefer) - Bengals 3rd quarter ML @ Caesars +140: I believe we have a massive edge here on the Bengals coming out after halftime. They were a staggering 14-3 SU winning 3rd quarters in the regular season and 2-1 so far in the playoffs. If you take away the divisional matchup against the Titans where they were outscored 10-7 in the 3rd quarter, then the last time they lost outright was November 7th against the Browns. Conversely the Rams were 8-8-1 in the 3rd quarter during the regular season, with half of those wins coming against the Jags, Texans, Giants, and Bears. On top of that they are 0-3 this postseason in the third quarters and the last time the Rams won a 3rd quarter outright was December 13th against the reeling Cardinals. As our friend Uncle Dave says..this is a WTF 3rd quarter line...aka WRONG TEAM FAVORED… and we are getting plus money? Who Dey.
Ben Martinez (@On_A_Heater) - Total Accepted Penalties UNDER 10.5 +105 @ Bet365: Both the Rams and Bengals rank 26th and 27th overall in penalties accepted against them, which includes the playoffs. Head referee Ron Torbert and this Super Bowl officiating crew has officiated 9 total Rams games combined this season while averaging 4 flags thrown against Los Angeles per game. They’ve also officiated 3 total Bengals games averaging 5 total flags per game against Cincinnati. During the playoffs 8 of the last 9 games has gone under this total as well, and I love the plus money here while most other books are hanging 9.5 juiced to the under, which I still like. Make sure to shop around get the best odds.
“Tony Squares” (@Tony_Cavallo) Longest Reception Matchup Van Jefferson OVER Tyler Boyd @ DraftKings -115: This line doesn't make any sense, as Tyler Boyd is rarely used as a downfield threat in Zac Taylor's offense whilst Van Jefferson is primarily used as a downfield threat in McVay's. In the regular season Jefferson's aDOT was 13.5 yds with 71 average air yards per game (aypg), while Boyd's was 7.7 and 43. Boyd hasn't caught a pass longer than 10 yards all postseason. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.
“Mean Gene” Lesser (@MeanGene0022) - Odell Beckham Jr. OVER 60.5 Receiving Yards @ PointsBet -115: This is purely a bet on the usage and statistical trajectory of OBJ. In the most meaningful games of the year - the playoffs - OBJ has seen his targets, receptions, and yardage increase in every single week. He’s cleared the 64 yard mark in his last two games and now add in the fact that Tyler Higbee has been ruled out for the Super Bowl. Those targets and yardage need to go somewhere. OBJ does a good job of getting open in general, but more importantly, over the middle of the field where Higbee thrived. Yes, Kendall Blanton is the next man up at the tight end position, but again, in such a big game, look for Matthew Stafford to rely on one of his most trusted pass catchers in this contest.