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Friday, February 10, 2023 |
Chiefs-Eagles is the Super Bowl matchup we deserved. There were other storylines NFL fans latched onto during the stretch run – "Mr. Irrelevant's Wild Ride!" and "Burrow-head!" most notably – but the Chiefs and Eagles were pretty much the best teams in the league all season, and getting to see them go head to head is going to be a treat. |
The Eagles are a deep team that can dominate on both sides of the ball and in both facets of the game. They have the best offensive line in football, a dominant secondary, and defensive front that racked up a truly stunning 70 sacks in the regular season, the most by a team since 1989. And, on top of that, they have two elite, alpha No. 1 WRs and one of the best playmakers in the league at tight end, too. a |
Of course, Jalen Hurts is what makes all go. He's the centerpiece of the running game and an excellent passer. They're built around an elite quarterback on a rookie contract, the most important building block a team can have in today's NFL. |
Except for, you know, maybe Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are by no means a one-man show, but Mahomes continues to prove he is the kind of player who can cover up for a lot of shortcomings. They lost Tyreek Hill last offseason and Mahomes was even better than he was a year ago, with a receiving corps made up of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and partial seasons from Mecole Hardman , Kadarius Toney, and Skyy Moore. |
Having the arguable GOAT at tight end helps, naturally, and Mahomes and Travis Kelce are already arguably the best QB-TE combo in NFL history. Heck, Mahomes might be playing at a higher level through his first five seasons than any quarterback ever. |
I'm framing this as a Great Team vs. Great Player matchup, but that's oversimplifying, too. The Chiefs have maybe the greatest offensive mind at head coach the league has ever seen, with a satchel of tricks and toys as a play caller that would make Santa jealous. |
And, while they might not have the breadth and depth of talent the Eagles do on defense, this unit came up with 55 sacks of its own and just held Joe Burrow and the Bengals to 309 yards and 20 points to come away with a close win – and it featured some key big plays from the defensive line and the backfield. |
Mahomes helps cover up a lot of flaws, but the Chiefs aren't here just because of him. Just like the Eagles aren't here just because of Hurts. These are two incredible teams, the No. 1 seeds in their conferences, who have lost just two games between them since the start of November. These teams deserve to be here, and I'm incredibly excited to get to watch them go head to head Sunday. |
And, of course, I'm a little bit sad that, when the clock strikes double-zeros Sunday, that'll be the last NFL game until September. The end of the season is always bittersweet. |
But I'm not gonna get all weepy on you, I promise. This newsletter certainly won't be going dark – we'll be publishing at least once every week (more or less, I'm gonna take a vacation at some point, you know), with Dynasty content, trade and free agency analysis, and more to make sure you've got the edge on your leaguemates for next season. |
But before we get to that, let's dive deep on Sunday's game. The entire Fantasy Football Today team has been previewing the Super Bowl all week. On the FFT DFS podcast, Sia Nejad and Mike McClure went through everything you need to know about the Super Bowl showdown slate, and Jamey Eisenberg has some DFS picks for you here, too. |
Sia also came on the FFT in 5 podcast Thursday to chat about the Super Bowl slate, and one thing he talked about was the need in a single-game slate to correlate your picks, and I think that's a very useful idea. One that applies not just to DFS, but also to prop picks. |
The Super Bowl is like the Super Bowl of prop picks, and we've been talking about our favorite picks for the game all week. In the rest of today's newsletter, I'm going to present some of the FFT team's favorite prop picks for the game, categorized by how they might play out depending on the game outcome. If you want more picks and odds from 500-plus Super Bowl props, you can check out SportsLine's Super Bowl 57 Props Guide here. |
So, if you think it will be a close game (I think it will be, though I'm picking the Chiefs to win), we have some picks that should look pretty good with that outcome. If you think the Eagles are going to win by multiple scores, scroll down a little further; keep scrolling if you think the Chiefs are going to win easily. |
Our favorite Super Bowl props |
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If you think it will be a close game |
Jalen Hurts Yards of First Completion over 7.5 |
"I'm not just doing this because Hurts hit on a 40-yarder to Devonta Smith for his first completion last week. This is another one where the trend shows a clear lean – 11 of Hurts' 17 first completions went for 8 or more yards. I went through and watched all of Hurts' early-game throws, and while the Eagles don't necessarily go deep every time, Hurts benefits here in the same ways he benefits throughout the game, from an incredibly skilled group of playmakers who are adept at making plays with the ball in their hands. This is a tough one because you only get one crack at it, but with 61% of Hurts' completions this season going for at least 8 yards, the odds are in your favor." -- Chris Towers |
Jalen Hurts under 20.5 pass completions (-101) |
Heath: "I've gone back and forth between whether I like Hurts' completions prop or his attempts prop more. I'm choosing the completions because the odds are slightly better and I think I have more outs, but I like both. Hurts has been below 20.5 completions in 10 of 17 games this year and he's been below 31.5 attempts in 11 of 17. He's been well below both numbers in the team's two playoffs games. The reason I like these more than his yardage prop of 241.5 is that I don't necessarily want to bet against Hurts' success, just his volume. I could see Hurts hitting a big play or two downfield to A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith for long touchdowns, I don't believe he's going to march the team down the field via short passes in this game. |
The outs, as I see them are plentiful: |
Nick Sirianni could go into this game attempting to establish the run to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field.The Chiefs could dominate time of possession, keeping Hurts off the field.Hurts could attempt 30-plus passes but have an inefficient day as a passer in terms of completion percentage.Hurts could have a monster day in terms of yards per attempt, and not need many passes at all to keep his team scoring." -- Heath Cummings |
Isiah Pacheco Yards of Longest Rush under 13.5 |
"This one feels less safe. Pacheco is a dynamic athlete who averaged a very strong 4.9 yards per carry for the Chiefs as a rookie, but he wasn't really a home run hitter despite his impressive long speed. Pacheco has had just nine carries go for more than 13 yards out of 192 total – 4.7%, ranking 31st out of 47 players with at least 100 carries. It only takes him finding one crease, and 13.5 yards isn't asking very much, but that hasn't really been a part of his game." -- Chris Towers |
Miles Sanders over 59.5 rushing yards |
Boston Scott and Ken Gainwell lately, but that has more to do with the fact that the Eagles have blown out their last two opponents than anything else. In a closer game, Sanders is likely to reach the 15-carry mark -- or close -- and we're talking about a running back who averaged 4.9 yards per carry this season and is playing behind the best offensive line in the NFL by far. Sanders averaged 75 yards rushing this season so he should be able to top the 60-yard mark as long as the Eagles don't fall behind by multiple scores early." --Dan Schneier |
If you think the Eagles will win by multiple scores |
Eagles to win by 7-12 points (+500)Eagles to win by 13-18 points (+750) |
"You cast a wide net for a sizable Eagles victory if you take both bets. You'll lose one, but if you win the other one then you'll clear at least +300. Eleven of the Eagles' 16 regular and postseason wins have been by seven or more points, and the Chiefs have lost two games by 19-plus points since installing Patrick Mahomes at quarterback (one was Super Bowl LV against the Bucs)." -- Dan Schneier |
Jalen Hurts under 31.5 pass attempts (-125) |
"This is a good one to take if you think the Eagles are going to win handily. Hurts has been under 32 pass attempts in all but six games this season, but under in 9 of 11 games the Eagles won by 7-plus points. Just note this math changes if the oddsmakers lower the attempts to 30.5 since he has a pair of games this year with exactly 31 attempts (both blowout wins by Philly)." -- Dave Richard |
Chiefs team total rush yards under 100.5 (-135) |
"I think the Eagles will win, so I like this prop because the Chiefs have averaged 88.0 rush yards in their three losses. Even if the game is real close the odds are in our favor -- in nine games where the Chiefs lost or won by three or fewer points they've averaged 87.6 rush yards per game. The average balloons to over 130.0 when they win by six-plus points." -- Dave Richard |
If you think the Chiefs will win by multiple scores |
Patrick Mahomes longest completion over 37.5 yards |
"49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk recently said something very interesting when discussing the Eagles-Chiefs matchup. To paraphrase, he said the 49ers found some things with the Eagles defense that they felt they could exploit before the Brock Purdy injury happened. As someone who runs a New York Giants podcast that at its core analyzes All-22 coaches film and has now watched this Eagles defense three times on tape, I think I know what Aiyuk was hinting at. The Eagles cornerbacks play an especially aggressive brand of coverage and technique on the outside. You'll often see Darius Slay and James Bradberry positioned multiple yards off the ball but with their backs to the sideline and feet positioned in toward the middle of the field. More than a handful of times against the Giants, Bradberry specifically fell victim to double moves ( Isaiah Hodgins, Darius Slayton) but the ball never came their way. Mahomes is going to see the Eagles' susceptibility to double moves on the outside, specifically matched up against Bradberry, and he is going to connect on at least one of those plays -- and it will likely go for longer than 38 yards. This is my favorite player prop in the game." -- Dan Schneier |
Jalen Hurts over 31.5 pass attempts |
"Hurts hasn't come close to this one yet in the playoffs, having attempted 24 and 25 passes in the first two games. However, something tells me the Chiefs are going to manage to keep it quite a bit closer than either the Giants or 49ers did. Hurts only threw more than 32 passes in six of his 17 games to date, however, three of those came in his final four games of the regular season – and he got to 31 in a 26-point win over the Cardinals in the other. There was a trend toward trusting Hurts more as a passer in the second half of the season, and the Chiefs should be able to keep this game close enough that we'll see the same here." -- Chris Towers |
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| | | The PGA Tour on CBS | | College Basketball on CBS | This weekend, the PGA Tour on CBS tees off at one of the most electric atmospheres in all of golf, where the world's best players including Mcllroy, Scheffler and Cantlay will be on the course competing at the WM Phoenix Open. Tune In | | This weekend, CBS is covering all your college hoops needs. Saturday, #9 Kansas takes on Oklahoma. Then on Sunday, it's a matchup between Michigan State and Ohio State. Watch Live |
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