Super Bowl Betting First Glance: Early Eagles Bettors Find Value in Opening Line

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Don’t blink.

Philadelphia Eagles bettors who jumped on the Super Bowl line moments after it was posted Sunday night obtained excellent value.

Sure, within 30 minutes of the Eagles-Kansas City Chiefs matchup being finalized for Feb. 12, the Eagles were favored across the sportsbook landscape.

Yet for a couple fleeting moments, Eagles bettors got in on a dog at FanDuel. And that opening is all some bettors need to make a quick hit.

The book listed the Chiefs at -1.5, and DraftKings had the Birds at -1 roughly a minute after the matchup was established. Half an hour later, DraftKings had Philly -2.5 and Philadelphia at -1.5.

That was the range the major sportsbooks remained at early Monday morning.

Here are current Super Bowl betting lines from top sportsbooks.

CIN Bengals vs PHI Eagles Odds NFL Odds

NFL · Sun (2/12) @ 6:35pm ET

CIN Bengals at PHI Eagles
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

DraftKings Sportsbook: Get up to $1,250 in Bonuses

Super Bowl 57 Storylines

Kansas City’s 23-20 last-minute victory over the Cincinnati Bengals set the Super Bowl betting frenzy in motion, with enticement for both sides.

The Chiefs meet the Eagles, who plastered the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 at -3, to create a different kind of Philly Philly in the Super Bowl.

It’s current Eagles coach Nick Sirianni against long-revered Andy Reid, who guided the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance in 2005 that they lost 24-21 to the New England Patriots.

This also is a matchup of brotherly love. Philadelphia center Jason Kelce and Travis, Kansas City’s best skill position player, are the first brothers to ever face each other in the Super Bowl.

Both are both highly popular around the league, and Travis is popular with the bettors. The tight end was again notched a first-touchdown score return for his backers on Sunday, paying +700 at DraftKings for his tally against the Bengals.

Also read: Super Bowl 57 odds early movement | How to Bet on Super Bowl 57 | Best Super Bowl Betting Promos

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Super Bowl Betting Observations: Kansas City Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes gets two needed weeks of rest.

He looked good on one, gutting out a high-ankle sprain to guide the offense, after being injured last week against Jacksonville.
Mahomes did have to sprint twice in the final quarter, including a scramble that led to the out-of-bounds late hit and the generous yardage Harrison Butker used to drill the conference-winning field goal.

Although he was hopping noticeably, Mahomes looked determined to finish. The added rest might enable him to bring the scrambling dimension that makes him the logical league MVP.

Don’t Sleep on Defenders: Super Bowl 57 MVP odds

What’s this with the Kansas City defense?

The Chiefs recorded three consecutive drop-back sacks on Joe Burrow. That’s the first time the Cincinnati quarterback has ever suffered three in a row as a pro.

They also notched a critical sack to setup a punt and a punt return on Burrows’ final play.

The Kansas City defense has been considered a team liability. But it played a touchdown better than normal, holding the Cincinnati team that scored 27 points on them earlier this year to 20.

Super Bowl Betting Observations: Philadelphia Eagles

Jalen Hurts keeps putting more into his arsenal and has become dangerous.

The Eagles signal caller put this team on his back in the game-breaking, third-quarter touchdown drive.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles were bet from underdogs to favorites over the Chiefs in early Super Bowl 57 wagering (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Hurts rushed seven times for 41 yards on that march. He also toted the ball on five of six plays, including the sneak for a touchdown.

Look familiar?

It was the first time in several weeks the Eagles took the wraps off Hurts as a runner.

He was injured late in the season against the Chicago Bears on Dec. 18. The intermediate strain to his shoulder meant the team gingerly brought him back. Hurts sat for two weeks, returned to guide the Eagles to a ho-hum 22-16 regular season-ending triumph over the New York Giants to lock up home seed, and then he cut loose a little more last week.

Hurts did enough as the Eagles plastered the Giants 38-7 to win the Divisional round.

But this was the first time since the injury that Hurts ran with abandon. He gets another week off before the Super Bowl. At kickoff, it will have been eight weeks since Hurts was injured.

The Eagles have been winning without him as a runner.

Watch out now.

The Eagles defense has also been dominant.

In two playoff games, they have allowed a total of 14 points. They have been the least scored-upon team in the post-season and are deceptively dangerous.

The Eagles found a new star in Kenneth Gainwell.

Although Miles Sanders had two touchdowns, Gainwell was better at cracking the ball outside and notched two long gains in scoring drives.

Sanders, Boston Scott, and Hurts combined for all four Eagles touchdowns, all on the ground.

Nick Sirianni closed as the favorite at most sportsbooks to win Coach of the Year Award. Kyle Shanahan of the Niners had been running abreast of him for several weeks.

On Sunday, Sirianni outcoached Shanahan in a key moment.

On Philly’s first drive, it went for a conversion on 4th-and-3 from the San Francisco 35. DeVonta Smith was awarded a 29-yard on an acrobatic one-hand stab.

But he didn’t catch it. The ball came loose and hit the ground, yet it wasn’t challenged.

The Niners should have wound up with the ball had they challenged. Instead, two plays later, the Eagles wound up in the end zone.

On San Francisco’s first possession, Haason Reddick knocked the ball loose from Niners quarterback Brock Purdy. It was a bang-bang play and the pass was ruled incomplete.

But Sirianni challenged.

A review upheld his belief, and the Eagles got the ball around midfield.

Two major moves, one good and one bad, came from the gamblers’ top two bet-getters in Coach of the Year Award.

Deceptive Appearances

There was a time in the second quarter when the Eagles were tightening up. The score was tied 7-7, and the Niners almost took them off the field to set up their fabled 2-for-1 special.

Bettors have seen it. The Niners score on a long drive at the end of the second quarter, and when they get the kickoff at the beginning of the third quarter, they keep opposing offenses off the field for more than a half hour and change the rhythm of the game.

It looked ready to happen here, but this happened instead:

On 4th down in their own territory, the Eagles converted a quarterback sneak.

On 3rd and 7, the Niners committed a penalty on an incomplete pass. They did not get the ball, as expected.
And then the Eagles really did punt it. But the Niners were guilty of roughing the kicker.

And it got worse. There was another penalty.

With less than two minutes before halftime, the Eagles had second and long in the red zone, tied 7-7. A field goal looked possible. But Sanders instead ran the ball in, giving Philly a 14-7 lead.

A turnover by the Niners just before half time led to the Boston Scott TD for the 21-7 margin.

The Eagles beat the Niners at their own game.

How Did Gamblers Do on Championship Sunday?

Besides the ‘Kelce to score first’ prop, DraftKings bettors tallied +180 for Tee Higgins as an anytime scorer.

But Ja’Marr Chase (+100), Joe Mixon (-120), and Hayden Hurts(+225), who rounded out the list of top prop bet tickets for anytime touchdown, did not find pay dirt.

PointsBet gamblers did not mind laying -130 for Christian McCaffrey to become an anytime scorer. That was the prop that took the most tickets.

The price may have been unfavorable, but the result was logical. McCaffrey delivered the money in the second quarter.

Hurts was the third selection at -105. He made one third-quarter march his personal drive and capped it by powering in from inside a yard to deliver the financial goods.

At DraftKings, the prop bettors were blanked on their major bets.

That included:

  • Hurts to throw more than 1.5 touchdowns. He had none.
  • Brock Purdy to toss more than 1.5 touchdowns. He had none.
  • Purdy to get more than 8.5 rushing yards. He didn’t.
  • A.J. Brown to notch more than 70 passing yards. He didn’t.

Caesars Sportsbook bettors cashed with 70% of the tickets and 65% of the handle at Philadelphia -3.

FanDuel gamblers converted a sweet +185 prop parlay with Reddick to get a sack and the Eagles to win.

He notched the sack right away. And then another.

Also check: Super Bowl 2023 current odds | 2024 Super Bowl odds

About the Author
Dave Bontempo

Dave Bontempo

Writer
Dave Bontempo is an award-winning writer and broadcaster, who has covered the sports industry since the 1970s. He won the Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Boxing Broadcasting by the Boxing Writers Association of America in 1997, and is in the New Jersey and Atlantic City Boxing Halls of Fame. Bontempo has broadcast major fights all over the world. The advent of legalized sports wagering shifted his focus to this exciting new industry in 2018.

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