Las Vegas sports books favor Patriots, Panthers meeting in Super Bowl 50

By Case Keefer (contact)

Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The margin of victory in all four divisional-round NFL playoff games last weekend was a touchdown or less.

Next Sunday’s pair of conference championship games could be even closer based on the betting odds. Bookmakers opened the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots as 3-point favorites over the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos, respectively, in the pair of matchups to determine the participants of Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Carolina, which will host Arizona in a 3:40 kickoff next Sunday afternoon, stuck as a field-goal favorite, but New England, which will travel to Denver for a game that starts at noon, climbed to minus-3.5 at some shops.

The Panthers and the Patriots opened as slight favorites to make it out of their respective conferences at the start of the playoffs two weeks ago. They were able to maintain their position at the top of the betting board despite what felt like a turbulent slate of four quarterfinal matchups in sports books.

All four favorites won outright, but one failed to cover while another pushed the closing point spread. Tight finishes penalized any football bettor who celebrated cashing a ticket early.

Even the Panthers, which went up 31-0 on the Seahawks in the first half, provided uneasy moments for their backers Sunday morning. Seattle stormed back and wasn’t out of winning or covering the 2.5-point spread until Carolina recovered an onside kick with a minute left to secure a 31-24 victory.

Bettors laying points were victimized by an even more improbable finish the night before. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ second successful regulation-ending Hail Mary touchdown this season wasn’t enough to give the Packers a victory on the road against the Cardinals, but it ensured a cover of the 7-point spread.

The Cardinals scored on a Carson Palmer-to-Larry Fitzgerald touchdown pass on their first drive of overtime to win 26-20.

Kansas City coach Andy Reid bumbled in managing the clock to deny Chiefs’ bettors the chance at a similar comeback cover against the Patriots in Saturday’s first game. The Chiefs reached the 1-yard line with 2:33 left to play when Reid puzzlingly decided to call a running play, which was subsequently stuffed and ran the time down to the 2-minute warning.

Kansas City didn’t punch in a touchdown until 1:18 remained and failed to recover an onside kick to lose 27-20 as closing 6-point underdogs.

But the wildest gambling ending was reserved for the final game. Denver appeared in position to beat the 7-point spread with a 45-yard field goal from Brandon McManus to put it ahead of Pittsburgh 23-13 with 53 seconds remaining.

The Steelers responded by driving right down the field, however, and opted for Chris Boswell to kick a 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds left. They failed to recover the subsequent onside kick, ensuring a 23-16 final score and a push for most bettors except those who wagered on Denver minus-6.5 or Pittsburgh plus-7.5 earlier in the week.

Favorites improved to 7-1 straight-up, 3-3-2 against the spread this postseason. Carolina and New England have a tough task in keeping the form, as it’s the first time in five years that both conference championship games have a point spread of 3 or lower.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.