Super Bowl 51 betting guide: Falcons value to run Patriots close

The NFL season is a relatively short one compared to other high profile sports both in the USA and worldwide, the American football feast that started in September ending this weekend with Super Bowl LI in Houston as New England Patriots take on Atlanta Falcons.

It does not take a genius to work out that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was going to return from his early season four-game ban royally pissed off at the disputed Deflategate ruling and keen to make opposing teams suffer.

The fact that he has done it by only dropping one game to the Seahawks, though, is testament to his veteran savvy and mercurial coach Bill Belichick pulling the strings expertly from the sidelines.

Much like the Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan relationship for San Antonio Spurs which harvested five NBA titles from a zero starting mark for their Texas franchise, Belichick and Brady can make it five of their own starting from nothing for their Massachusetts franchise if victorious on Sunday.

Brady was Super Bowl MVP in three of those four wins and the odds on him steering the Pats to another triumph as the main man is extremely short at 10/11.

As a journalist friend of mine said this week, the chances of people MVP voting for Brady as a finger in the eye of controversial NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in Deflategate is pretty high.

Saying that QB Matt Ryan, the current favourite for the season MVP awarded on Saturday, is a decent price at 15/8 if his superb ability to spread the play to multiple receivers leads the Falcons to victory.

Their poor first half against Denver Broncos in 1999 cost them their only chance at the title, so Matty Ice will be eager to get the Falcons firing early much like their resounding NFC Championship win over the Green Bay Packers last time out masterminded by coach Dan Quinn.

They put 31 points on the Packers before Aaron Rodgers and co could respond, the NFL’s most fearsome wide receiver Julio Jones bullying the Pack defence while Mohamed Sanu, Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman played scintillating supporting roles.

Jones at a best price of 18/1 is well worth an MVP wager, while Falcons outside linebacker Vic Beasley’s ability to terrorise opposing QBs could see him make it back-to-back defensive MVP wins at a tasty 66/1 after Von Miller snagged it last year for Denver.

The way Atlanta start games means there is good 7/1 value in the half-time/full-time bet of Falcons winning at the half with the Pats coming back hard for the victory.

With both teams in fine form throughout the season and desperate not to give anything away, 10/1 on overtime being played is a bet you might want to consider if only to spice up the viewing further.

Elsewhere Pats running back LeGarrette Blount and Jones are both red-zone monsters, therefore you might want to invest in them claiming two TDs at 3/1 and 5/2 respectively.

Finally, a novelty bet well worth looking at to make the half-time show go quicker is whether Hillary Clinton fan Lady Gaga mentions Donald Trump or not with 24/25 on the outlandish singer managing to shoehorn him in.

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