Updated Odds to Win Super Bowl LII – January 22nd

And then there were two. That’s right — of the 32 teams in the National Football League, and of the 12 teams who entered the playoffs just over two weeks ago, there are only two contenders remaining for the Lombardi Trophy. With that said, we already have the latest odds to win Super Bowl LII. The New England Patriots needed to come back from a ten-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to do it, but they took down the Jacksonville Jaguars by a 24-20 score, thanks to two touchdown catches by Danny Amendola. The Patriots will now appear in their tenth Super Bowl — the most for any team — and go for their sixth win, which would tie them with Pittsburgh for the most of all time. In the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles, entering the game as three-point underdogs, took the Minnesota Vikings to the woodshed, rolling to a 38-7 rout. An interesting fact — teams who play in indoor stadiums are now 0-12 in conference championship games when they have to go on the road and play in an outdoor stadium, a trend that goes all the way back to 1966. Now the Eagles enter the third straight postseason game as an underdog. Can they pull off three straight upsets and bring Philadelphia its first Super Bowl trophy? Or will the Patriots add to their crowded trophy case? Let’s check out the latest Super Bowl LII odds to win this year.

Updated Odds to Win Super Bowl LII – January 22nd

• Super Bowl LII Odds: New England (-5.5), O/U 45.5

Should you pick New England here? They did beat Jacksonville, but they went into that game at home as 9 ½-point favorites, only winning by four points. There are a lot of similarities between the Jacksonville defense and the Philadelphia defense — a swarming defensive line that plugs the holes, limiting opportunities for running, especially up the middle, and an opportunistic pass rush that, even when they just send four, can get to the quarterback in a hurry. In the conference championships, the Jaguars harassed Tom Brady for the first three quarters, putting him on the ground before and after he had gotten rid of passes. The Eagles did much the same thing to Minnesota’s Case Keenum, forcing him to get rid of the ball sooner than he wanted to — especially on plays where he was waiting for those crossing routes to develop. So the Eagles can rush Brady — and keep Dion Lewis from running wild against their defense. The secondary for Philadelphia had a pair of interceptions against Case Keenum — and those weren’t on short-armed balls, either. One was on an out, late in the game, that the Eagles read perfectly, and the other was on a pass when Keenum’s arm got hit in the pocket, an interception that turned into a pick-six. The secondary for New England turned in some heroic moments, but there was a lot more out there for Blake Bortles to take advantage of, particularly on the deeper outs and the crossing patterns, than there was for Case Keenum. Philadelphia will get the ball down the field — assuming that Nick Foles doesn’t fall back into that wormhole that threatened to swallow him after those awful games against Oakland and Dallas to end the regular season.

And Then There Are the Offenses

Philadelphia torched Minnesota — one of the top defenses in the NFL — for 31 offensive points on the night. New England had trouble moving the ball against the Jaguars except for a drive late in the second quarter, when a couple of Jacksonville penalties gave the New England offense a couple of huge gains, and Brady was able to pick apart the Jacksonville secondary, and then in the fourth quarter when Jacksonville’s pass rush vanished. There’s no reason why Philadelphia can’t score with the same ease that Jacksonville managed in the first half — and keep on doing so after halftime. But will Foles crumble under the klieg lights that shine on you in the Super Bowl? Right now, I’d take the Eagles to cover — but the Patriots to win on one of those patented Tom Brady comeback drives.