Best Super Bowl Bets with Ben Stevens of SportsGrid
Ben Stevens of SportsGrid breaks down his five favorite bets for Super Bowl LVI. Watch 'The Morning After' weekdays from 9am-12pm.
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Start spreading the news: New York loves to bet on sports.
Sports bettors wagered $1.6 billion dollars in New York state in January, the most money ever bet in a single state in one month. Even more impressively, the mobile sports betting market didn’t launch until Jan. 8, so it took only a little over three weeks to break the record. And given that Americans wagered an estimated $4.3 billion on last year’s Super Bowl, that record is almost certain to fall in February.
If you’re a New Yorker looking to get in on the action, you’re in luck: We hopped on a Zoom call with Ben Stevens, host of The Morning After on SportsGrid, to get his favorite picks for Super Bowl LVI. Check out Ben’s picks below, and be sure to tune-in to The Morning After weekdays from 9am-12pm on SportsGrid, one of the many channels you can watch on Sling even without a subscription!
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
CIN RB Joe Mixon - OVER 25.5 Receiving Yards
Ben Stevens: Let’s start with my favorite pick for all of Super Bowl LVI. That would be Joe Mixon and the over of his receiving yards prop. He has been averaging 42.3 receiving yards per game in the last five games for the Cincinnati Bengals. He has become much more involved in their passing attack off of the right arm of Joe Burrow. Somewhere in the mid-20s [of receiving yards], you can feel pretty comfortable about taking that number.
LAR WR Cooper Kupp - Over 8 Receptions
BS: Cooper Kupp is the Triple Crown winner in the NFL at wide receiver this year. That means he led the NFL in touchdown grabs, receiving yards, and overall receptions. His total receptions prop for the Super Bowl should hover somewhere around 7.5 or maybe even 8.5. If that number is right there, you can look to take an over. Even though it’s high, Cooper Kupp has gone over that number – around 8 – in the final two games of this postseason for the Rams, a number he went over nine times in the regular season. The target share between Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford is always high. You can count on Cooper Kupp on Super Bowl Sunday, even though the numbers are steep.
LAR WR Odell Beckham Jr. - Over 62.5 Receiving Yards
BS: And if Cooper Kupp is the primary target for Los Angeles, that secondary weapon is Odell Beckham Jr. He has become much more involved in the passing game for [coach] Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams. His receiving yards prop should be somewhere in the low 60s, a number he has gone over in two straight games for Los Angeles. In fact, in the NFC Championship game against the Niners, it was the first time Odell broke the [100 yards] mark in receiving since October of 2019. The Bengals will look to take away Cooper Kupp the best they can, which leaves a lot of open profitability on Odell Beckham Jr. on the other side.
CIN QB Joe Burrow - Over 35 Pass Attempts
BS: Obviously a lot of the focus for Super Bowl LVI is going to be on the quarterback battle between Matthew Stafford for L.A. and Joe Burrow for Cincinnati. [I’m] not looking at their passing yards props, but the passing attempts prop for Joe Burrow. If it’s somewhere in the mid-30s—say, around 36.5 or so—I would lean with the over. It’s a number that Joe Burrow has gone over in the most recent two games in the postseason for Cincinnati. And the only time he went under, he had 34 passing attempts against the Las Vegas Raiders. And if you correlate it to the spread, the Bengals, an underdog once again, might be throwing a lot late in the second half. The Rams’ defense allows, on average, 37 passing attempts per game to their opposing quarterback. I would look at Joe Burrow, his passing attempts prop, and take an over on Super Bowl Sunday.
First Pass Attempt - Incomplete
BS: One of the best things about the Super Bowl is the variety of props that you have. It’s not like any regular season NFL game or any playoff NFL game. And one that’s out there for the Super Bowl is “What will the first passing attempt for each quarterback be?” Will it be a completion—a “yes”—or will it be an incompletion or even an interception, on the “no.” And the “no” has a lot of “plus” money for both Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow. There are so many factors that go into this, but I love plus money. So if they’re going to give you a plus-money pick on an incompletion or interception, that could be a fun way to start off your Super Bowl Sunday.
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