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We're in the Super Bowl so it's hard to argue with any move he made, even the ones I didn't like. He's really got his work cut out on defense this offseason, but I do feel like he's up to the task. Happy for Les and glad he not only kept his job but went balls out to make this team better.
That's some truly stupid (intellectually stunted) crap. Yeah he committed the foul, but he didn't make the refs eat their flags. That's like when people get ticked at me because their elevator is broken. Bitch, I'm not the one breaking it. Quit mashing the freakin' button 150 times in a row. It's plastic.
Pro tip for you all...
Pushing the button more than once doesn't make it arrive sooner. Stahp it.
Really love his fire. But he's gotta stay disciplined and keep a lower profile. I have to wonder if a ref or two will be targeting him for a flag to soothe some people's anguish over the last game? I knew there would be a make up call after that one and the Rams got flagged for an iffy pass interference on the first or second play in overtime. We all knew that was coming.
Your Comprehensive Guide to Losing Money on Super Bowl LIII Prop Bets Who cares which team will win? We’re here to figure out which song Maroon 5 will perform first, how clairvoyant Tony Romo will be, and what will happen to the price of bitcoin. By Danny Heifetz
Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Thirty-three years ago, on January 26, 1986, two of the most beautiful things in NFL history happened: The New England Patriots were throttled in the Super Bowl, and the proposition bet became a gambling sensation. As a publicity stunt, oddsmakers offered bets on whether Bears defensive lineman William “Refrigerator” Perry would score a rushing touchdown in Super Bowl XX, giving bets paying out as high as 75-1. Shockingly, Perry did score a rushing touchdown.
The bet sparked a wave of prop bets, which have become an international phenomenon in the past three decades. An estimated $4 billion–plus will be wagered on the Super Bowl, and roughly a quarter of that amount will come via proposition bets. That’s more money on prop bets than the Rams were valued at when Stan Kroenke bought a controlling stake in the team in 2010.
Traditional betting offers odds on things that nobody cares about, like “Who will win the game?” or “How many points will be scored?” Meanwhile, prop bets have captured the public imagination by getting to the heart of what matters, like “What will be the first song performed by Maroon 5?” “How many times will the broadcast mention Sean McVay’s age?” and “Will the Chick-fil-A in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome be open on Sunday?” We’ll run through some of these crucial bets and discuss how to win them, but first a quick rundown on what this gambling lingo means:
Over/under: A bet on how often an event will happen. If the number 0.5 is used for something where a half is impossible (i.e., “Jared Goff over/under 0.5 interceptions”) it is eliminating the possibility of a tie. Zero Goff interceptions is a win for those who bet the under, and one or more interceptions is a win for those who bet the over.
Odds: The odds are just a fancy (and unnecessarily complicated) way of communicating the payout. For example, “Will Big Boi and Adam Levine perform ‘Mic Jack’ at halftime?” offers two odds: “Yes: -400” and “No: +250.” For Yes, -400 means 1-to-4 odds, so $4 on a winning bet would net a $1 profit. For No, +250 means 2.5-to-1 odds, so $1 on a winning bet would net $2.50.
The smaller the payout for a prop (some are as small as -2,500, or 1-to-25) the more confident the bookmaker is that that side will win. The same is true vice versa (i.e., the odds for betting that no touchdowns will be scored is +10,000, or 100-to-1, indicating that oddsmakers are extremely confident there will be a touchdown).
How many times will the broadcast mention Sean McVay’s age?
Over/under: 1.5
This is an easy bet considering Super Bowl LIII is just an elaborate excuse to discuss McVay’s age. He’s the youngest head coach in the league and the youngest to ever win a playoff game. When Brady famously slid to the sixth round, McVay was 14. The last time the Rams played the Pats in the Super Bowl, McVay was playing on the field for his high school. In college, McVay played a game against Pats receiver Julian Edelman. It’s a guarantee that McVay’s youth will be mentioned throughout the broadcast, but the devil is in the details.
“Mention Sean McVay’s age” likely means the number 33 has to be explicitly mentioned; it won’t count if the announcers just mention that he’s young. McVay turned 33 on Thursday (making him exactly half Belichick’s age), so it is a virtual lock that his exact age will come up at least once. The question is whether the announcers will use the exact number twice.
If the Rams win, it’ll be a massive talking point, but the “broadcast” likely won’t count what happens before the game starts or after the game ends, so we need Jim Nantz or Tony Romo to slip in an extra “the 33-year-old coach” or some other similar phrase after their initial discussion. Even this is tricky. Does it have to be in multiple conversations? Or can it be mentioned twice in the same back-and-forth? There are reasons to be skeptical, but this is not the time to be betting against people talking about McVay.
The Bet: Over 1.5
How many replays of Ted Rath holding back Sean McVay will be shown?
McVay may be an offensive savant with a photographic memory, but those gifts come at the cost of spatial awareness.
McVay’s body man is named Ted Rath. (“Body Man Ted Rath” sounds like the main character in a John Wick Netflix knockoff movie. In fact, Netflix, if you’re reading this, I give you permission to take that idea.)
This is a strong bet, though not as good as mentioning McVay’s age. It’ll probably be mentioned just once, but they might talk about it at length, and if they do talk about it, they’ll likely show a few instances of it happening and play them back-to-back-to-back rather than just one.
The Bet: Over 1.5
Halftime Show Bets
What will be the predominant color of Adam Levine’s top at the start of the halftime show?
Black: -200 Any other color: +150
Levine wears a lot of black, but these are pretty good odds on the entire visible spectrum of light. Darkness (the Patriots) versus light (everyone else) is the oldest story there is.
The darkness has more territory, but the light is winning.
The Bet: Light
What song will Maroon 5 perform first?
“One More Night”: +300
“Makes Me Wonder”: +500
“Sugar”: +550
“Animals”: +600
“Girls Like You”: +600
“Moves like Jagger”: +600
“Don’t Wanna Know”: +700
“Payphone”: +1,000
“Maps”: +1,500
“She Will Be Loved”: +1,500
“This Love”: +1,500
“One More Night,” “Makes Me Wonder,” and “Sugar” don’t have compelling enough payouts to be enticing bets. Starting with “Animals” would likely resurface questions about the song’s problematic lyrics. The smartest song to play would be “Girls Like You” featuring Cardi B (the music video has 1.7 billion views on YouTube), but “Girls Like You” is not a good song to start the halftime show. The best halftime performances begin with something upbeat and high tempo—a bop, as the kids call it. Bruce Springsteen started with “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out” (total bop).
The halftime performer reliably starts with something upbeat (Lady Gaga’s performance is the exception, but Lady Gaga herself is an exception). The wrench in this plan is when the artists use a song as an intro for 45 or so seconds before transitioning to something more upbeat. Beyoncé did this by beginning with the first moments of “Love on Top,” but then immediately pivoting to the far more upbeat “Crazy in Love.”
The best bet for the upbeat song that Maroon 5 starts with is “Moves Like Jagger” at 6-to-1 odds. It’s a song everyone knows, it’s got the speed to get people going immediately, it can be transitioned out of quickly, and it’s got twice the payout of “One More Night.”
The Bet: “Moves Like Jagger” The Dream: Levine uses Cardi B as a bridge to bring out her estranged husband, Offset (whom she said this week she wants to get back together with), and the rest of Migos, who are gods in Atlanta, and then they do a Migos song for 30 seconds before switching the beat into “Sicko Mode.”
Utter Nonsense
Will Louisiana attorney Frank D’Amico Jr. win his lawsuit over the missed call in the NFC championship game?
Yes: +2,500 No: -10,000
Spoiler alert: The members of Who Dat Nation will not be compensated for “loss of enjoyment of life” for the Saints’ loss to the Rams last week.
The Bet: Sadly, don’t bet on justice here.
Will Fyre Fest organizer Billy McFarland be caught selling counterfeit Super Bowl tickets?
Yes: +2,500 No: -10,000
“If you’ve never been out on bail before, that’s the time in your life when you want to be committing the least number of crimes,” McFarland says in the Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud. He hasn’t elaborated on how many crimes you should commit while in prison.
The Bet: Avoid anything where your money depends on Billy McFarland.
How many plays will Tony Romo correctly predict during the game?
Over/under: 7.5
Romo (a.k.a. NostraRomos) ascended to another plane last week when he predicted 15 plays and got 12 of them correct during the AFC championship game. Almost all of his predictions were about the Patriots, so he should have a strong chance once again with plenty of time to prepare. But almost all of his calls last week came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime.
If you had taken this same bet for Romo in the Pats-Chiefs game, you’d have been sweating it out just as much as if you had bet the Rams to win the NFC championship game. Not to mention that Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was so bad at adjusting at the end of the game (and throughout the season) that he was fired on Tuesday.
It’s unlikely that Wade Phillips will do anything as predictable as Sutton did. Romo may make some excellent calls during the Super Bowl, but expecting eight-plus correct calls is a tall order.
The Bet: No
The Actual Game
How many interceptions will Jared Goff throw?
Over/under: 0.5
Fine, we can look at some that actually involve the players in the Super Bowl. Goff played extremely well in McVay’s system in the first half of the season, but he declined after beating the Chiefs on Monday Night Football and getting wrecked by the Bears. Goff has the tools to make every throw, but he often waits to pass until after his receiver has created space, rather than anticipating when the receiver will get open and throwing ahead of time.
That could be dangerous against Bill Belichick. Every time Goff has put the ball in the air 30 or more times since that Chiefs game, he’s had at least one interception. If the Rams can minimize obvious passing downs, it’ll help Goff out a bunch, but the staff that gave Malcolm Butler the information to jump Russell Wilson’s pass in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks will be well prepared to jump on any of Goff’s throws this time around too.
The Bet: Over
How many pass attempts will Tom Brady have?
Over/under: 37.5
The Patriots offense is likely to counter the Rams pass rush with the dinks and dunks and papercut passing, and that lends itself to the over here. If you think Brady is the key to the game, then the over here is solid.
The Bet: Over
Will James Develin score a touchdown?
Yes: +1,200
The Pats fullback has four rushing touchdowns on six carries this season. He’s on the field for the Pats often in short-yardage situations, and the odds of him getting a goal-line carry are better than his +5,000 odds to score first suggest. Ten years after Gary Russell scored first in Super Bowl XLIII, Develin can redeem the Russell faithful.
The Bet: Yes
Financial Instrument Bets
Coin Toss
Heads: -105 Tails: -105
What’s the most you’ve ever lost on a coin toss?
I can’t decide this one for you.
How will the S&P 500 perform by market close on the Monday after the Super Bowl?
Patriots win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes above previous close:+200
Patriots win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes below previous close: +200
Rams win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes above previous close: +270
Rams win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes below previous close: +270
You’re better off betting on the coin toss.
Will the price of bitcoin go up or down during the game?
PointsBet.com has a long list of prop bets for Sunday’s game and we’ve selected the best ones from the bunch.
First touchdown scorer
Sony Michel is the favorite at +700, which is a good bet considering he has five touchdowns in his last two games. However, a sneaky pick is Rex Burkhead at +1300. On the Rams’ side, Todd Gurley is the second overall favorite at +750, but C.J. Anderson (+900) could poach a score from him, so betting on No. 30 is a tad risky.
QB passing yards
Tom Brady: Over/under 289.5
Jared Goff: Over/under 272.5
The Rams haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer since Week 11, but after throwing for more than 500 yards in Super Bowl LII, Brady is a decent bet to go over 290 yards (-120). Goff is a tougher bet because he’s only surpassed 273 yards twice since Week 13.
Outcome of first drive
Punt: -105
TD: +160
FG attempt: +450
Turnover: +800
Bet on the punt. Offenses typically come out slow in the Super Bowl.
Either team to score 3 unanswered times
Yes: -333
No: +240
It’d be surprising to see this happen. It should be a back-and-forth game and neither offense goes cold very often.
Will there be a fourth-quarter comeback?
Yes: +300
This is a good bet. Brady is the comeback king and as long as the game is close down the stretch, someone is going to be credited with a fourth-quarter comeback. It’ll be back-and-forth in the final 15 minutes.
For every logical game-centric prop bet, there are two ridiculous ones.
If There is a Streaker Who Touches/Tackles First (BetOnline)
Player +175
Security +200
Referee +300
Coach +500
Other +400
Nickell Robey-Coleman Called for PI during Super Bowl (BetOnline)
YES +210
NO -310
Whose Age Will be Closer to the Total Points Scored (BetOnline)
Bill Belichick (66 years old) -400
Sean McVay (33 years old) +250
How many replays will be shown of Ted Rath holding Sean McVay back during the game? (Bovada)
Over 1.5 -175
Under 1.5 +135
Will Maroon 5 play “Sweet Victory” at halftime as a SpongeBob SquarePants tribute? (Bovada)
Yes -220
No +155
Who Will Have More Carries? (BetOnline)
Todd Gurley -120
CJ Anderson -120
What Happens First? (BetOnline)
Aaron Donald Sack -120
Tom Brady Interception -120
Color of Liquid Poured on Winning Coach (BetOnline)
Clear/Water +200
Yellow +250
Red +300
Blue +700
Purple +700
Green/Lime +700
Odds on what color hoodie/shirt Bill Belichick will wear (SportsBettingDime)
Blue: 2/3
Grey: 3/1
Red: 24/1
FIELD: 35/1
Over/Under on the number of plays Tony Romo correctly predicts (SportsBettingDime)
Over/under: 2.5
Total times Jim Nantz and Tony Romo say “Gronk” (BetDSI)
Over 2.5 (-110)
Under 2.5 (-120)
I'm sure they would say that their O line is very familiar with Suh... Big problem there though, they never saw him with Aaron Donald standing next to him !!!
This is great. This organization is as good as it gets. Comparatively, the guys that were told to deflate balls in New England got fired. I know who I'd want to work for.
Line AD up outside shade of the left guard. Get up field quick and use his size to leverage off of the massive left tackle on his way to the QB.
I feel like AD could pick win leverage on Brown and just put him in Brady's lap. But I feel like his interior pressure is what we will need more than anything.
More than anything, Greg Zuerlein doesn’t want to see the laces. Some kickers care more about the spot of the ball or its lean than the laces — and, ideally, kickers want all three elements flawless — but if something went wrong and Zuerlein had to choose, he would want the rotation of the stitching pride of Brockton Plastics. When he is striding forward, the Rams kicker wants to see nothing but leather. He wants absolute alignment. He wants the laces halving the uprights because twist creates drag. Drag is dangerous for a man in his business.
The holder, Johnny Hekker, and the long snapper, Jake McQuaide, understand this. The trio has shaped its approach together for seven seasons, tying them with Baltimore for the league’s longest-tenured unit. Last week, in the biggest moments in each of their careers, they orchestrated four Zuerlein field goals, including a 48-yarder to tie the Saints in regulation and a 57-yarder in overtime to send the Rams to the Super Bowl. On Sunday, in their new biggest moment, the Rams likely need repeated perfection from the kicking unit to upset juggernaut New England and bring Los Angeles its first Lombardi Trophy since 1984.
“What he brings to the team is … as soon as you cross the (50-yard line), you legitimately feel like you’re in a position to come away with points,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”
The 31-year-old Zuerlein seems equipped to deliver — he hit 27 of 31 field-goal attempts and 35 of 36 extra points this season — but he didn’t practice last week. During halftime in New Orleans, the righty stepped on a plate underneath the turf and strained his left foot. He consulted the doctors and trainers on the sideline and elected not to tell John Fassel, his special teams coordinator, because Zuerlein didn’t want him to worry. Zuerlein expects to play against the Patriots, saying the foot “won’t be an issue, I hope.” He knows the pressure will be magnified beyond the game, and he doesn’t want to become the first kicker in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium this season to miss a field goal.
“Just trying to be as calm and as confident as possible,” Zuerlein said about his mindset for the game.
Right away in Super Bowl LIII, Zuerlein wants to establish his routine because the last two years, compared to the rest of his career, have been anything but. Zuerlein still knocked in long field goals and lived up to his nicknames, “Greg the Leg” and “Legatron,” yet he struggled to stay on the field. A back injury ended last season early and a strained groin caused him to miss six of this season’s first seven games. The special teams uncertainty combined with the Rams’ explosive offense meant the kicking team was rarely needed in crunch time, and Hekker noted their dramatics against the Saints inflated the unit’s confidence. They want to carry that consistency into Sunday.
If all goes to plan, the specialists will hit the field about 90 minutes before kickoff as normal. After testing cleats and hitting about five field goals each way, they usually come back out minutes before the game so Zuerlein can implement the adjustments with a few tries from a place-holder tee. Soon enough, though, it’s happening for real and the trio is running onto the field, McQuaide hyping himself up with words “not for public consumption.”
“It takes so many reps to kind of perfect how Greg wants it,” Fassel said. “There’s more than meets the eye for sure.”
The choreograph starts with Hekker and McQuaide ensuring they have lined up exactly eight yards apart by communicating in shorthand. For example, if the ball is on the 9-yard-line, they call it a “minus one, plus two,” or a “one and two” with McQuaide one yard in front of the 10-yard line and Hekker two yards behind the 15. If the ball is on the 10, it’s an “on it and three.”
From there, Hekker kneels down on the nearest hash, right-angled by one of the lines down the middle of the field and selected for its standardized efficiency. He checks for divots or holes where Zuerlein will plant his foot while double-checking the Rams have 11 players on the field and monitoring the play clock. If it’s low, he counts down.
“I’ve held for Greg for thousands and thousands of kicks, so it’s a deal where I know his rhythm, how long he likes to look up at the uprights,” said Hekker, the only holder Zuerlein has ever had in the NFL. “If I need to hustle him, I will, but if I don’t, (it’s because) I know how long (he takes).”
Meanwhile, McQuaide eyeballs the spot. He judges whether the ball is ahead or behind the yard marker, but he doesn’t touch the ball yet. Not wanting to make the offensive linemen stay in their stances too long, the long snapper waits until Zuerlein finishes his steps — three back, two and a half right — and then he knows there are five to eight seconds to the kick. He crouches. He watches Zuerlein look at Hekker, then up to the goal posts and back down to the spot. He grabs the ball.
To compensate for spot variations, some long snappers adjust by rotating the ball in their hands, but others, including McQuaide, move it slightly in their stances. McQuaide wants to regulate the distance to avoid Hekker catching an over- or under-rotated ball and being forced to spin it while he’s putting it down.
“The difference between good laces and bad laces is probably this much,” McQuaide said of where he snaps the ball, holding his right thumb and index finger apart about four inches.
He doesn’t get nervous because “they’re not going to ask me to play quarterback,” McQuaide said. He snaps the ball. From now, the kick needs to be away in less than 1.25 seconds, Fassel said. This is where Zuerlein hopes the muscle memory he began developing as a Nebraska high schooler takes over, where the instructions from Jay White, “the kicker whisperer” and his coach at Missouri Western State, get him locked in.
“You do the exact same thing every time so it feels comfortable and you’re not out there so you’re like, ‘This feels weird, now I’m not confident,’ ” Zuerlein said. “(It’s) just doing the exact same thing every time.”
Hekker catches. He sets. Spot, lean, laces. Zuerlein swings his leg.
It'd be like rewatching the security cameras capturing thieves stealing something precious... that same thing that they've been able to wear outside and flaunt for all these years.
If NRC is ok with paying the fine and moving on then who am I to complain? I didn't see H2H contact but it was possible. If it was it was a penalty and a fine. Moving on.
I was there last year. Similar situation. But the tooth was in decent shape. Haven't had a toothache like that in years . My dentist at first thought it was just an aggravated nerve and kept trimming my tooth so it did not bang the bottom one. Then over the holiday it took off. Couldn't get in and called him. I was alternating tylenol and ibuprofen. Took the max. Helped maybe a little. Not much. He also prescribed antibiotics. Pain didn't really go away until I had a root canal. It's a horrible situation.
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