Hi, hello & welcome to Super Bowl Week! I'm Slammin' Stevie Cook, and we've finally reached the end of the NFL season. It seems like yesterday we were wondering who would beat the New England Patriots and if anybody in the NFC South would be good this year. We've figured out the answers to those questions, and on Sunday night we'll find out who's the best.
One of the best things about the Super Bowl is that pretty much everything has some kind of wager attached to it. Everybody's made some kind of bet on the Super Bowl, and the good people in Vegas give us all sorts of crazy things to bet on. We'll take a look at what I think are some of the more interesting prop bets this season before settling down and making a bet on the game itself. So for one last time this year...LET'S HOOK EM UP!
Will Peyton Manning announce his retirement in the postgame interview?
Cook's Pick: NO
I think this is Peyton's last game. I don't think he wants to make it about himself though, which is why he's been telling friends and not telling media. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that wants to do a farewell tour, or retire multiple times or hem & haw about coming back or not. When he's done, he'll be done & that'll be it. I could end up being completely wrong, because I probably would have said the same thing about Brett Favre before his saga began. But with all of this in mind, I think that Peyton will wait until after Super Bowl Sunday, call a press conference in Denver at some point in the future and announce his retirement there. I don't think he'll want to upstage the game itself, no matter which team ends up winning, by announcing immediately afterwards.
Will Peyton Manning be seen crying at any point in the broadcast?
Cook's Pick: NO
I think you will see Peyton Manning Face (pictured above), but you won't see Peyton Manning cry.
How many times will "dab" or "dabbing" be said by the announcers during the game? (Over/Under: 2)
Cook's Pick: OVER
This is tougher than you'd think. I fully expect more than two dabs in this game, but the announcers, Jim Nantz & Phil Simms, aren't exactly the hippest cats in the land. They know even less about dabbing & hittin' dem folks than I do. I assume they will be prepped about the dab prior to the game and will be able to identify one as such when it happens. And it will be hilarious.
How many times will Cam Newton do the open shirt Superman motion during the game? (Over/Under: 2.5)
Cook's Pick: UNDER
I consulted Panther Expert Jeremy Lambert for this one, and he informed me that Cam does this motion only after his rushing touchdowns. I can see Cam getting two, but three seems like a little bit much against the Denver defense.
If Steph Curry is shown on TV during the broadcast, what will he be wearing? (Personalized Carolina Steph Curry Jersey, No Jersey, Cam Newton Jersey, Any Other Carolina Jersey)
Cook's Pick: No Jersey
I've gone back & forth on this one. The personalized jersey seems like a great possibility, but I think he saves that for when he's on the field pounding the drum for the Panthers. I think he will opt for no jersey, in an attempt not to draw too much attention to himself. (It won't work.) Perhaps a nice hooded sweatshirt instead, or a Panthers jacket/shirt combo. I wouldn't be surprised to see Riley Curry decked out in a mini Cam jersey, though.
Will Mike Carey be wrong about a challenge?
Cook's Pick: YES
Apparently Carey's percentage is really high, but it seems like every time he appears on a game that I see, he either doesn't really make a call or makes the wrong call. Usually in hilarious fashion.
Will Panthers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. drop a pass?
Cook's Pick: YES
OK, this bet's really not nice. But Ginn drops it like it's hot all the time.
How many times will John Elway be shown on TV during broadcast? (Over/Under: 2.5)
Cook's Pick: OVER
If the Broncos are winning, we'll see a good number of shots of Elway celebrating various plays. If they're losing, we'll see a couple of shots of him looking dejected. CBS loves their quarterbacks, whether they're active or not.
Which will be higher: Donald Trump percentage points in the New Hampshire primary, or the total points scored by the winning Super Bowl team?
Cook's Pick: TRUMP
Trump is currently polling at 33.7% in Real Clear Politics' average of various New Hampshire polls. Even if he goes down a bit before the primary next Tuesday, which I think he will, he should still be able to beat the winner of what I think will be a lower-scoring game than people are expecting.
Will "Left Shark" make an appearance on stage during the Super Bowl halftime show?
Cook's Pick: NO
As fun as the dancing-challenged shark is, I don't think he fits in with Coldplay or Beyonce. All right, enough of this nonsense. Time to make the pick we've been leading up to since September...
Super Bowl 50
Carolina (-6) vs. Denver: The Panthers opened as 4.5 point favorites, and the spread has expanded since. It's not surprising. Carolina completely blew Arizona out of the water in the NFC Championship Game while Denver beat New England by a much closer margin. The Panthers also looked extremely impressive in the first half against Seattle while the Broncos struggled for most of their game with the Steelers. Oh, and Carolina has only lost one game all season and it seems like people are finally accepting the idea that they aren't the worst one-loss team of all time.
There's a lot to like about the Panthers. Cam Newton's living up to the hype he received coming out of college & we're not even hearing the debate about whether or not he's an "elite quarterback" that we hear about every QB breaking into the top games because it's pretty freaking obvious that he has to be. He's strapped this offense on his back and made it a big deal all by himself. He hasn't had the greatest season of all time, but I think I could consider the argument that no QB has ever been more valuable to his team than Cam Newton has been this season.
Then if that's not enough, they've got a lights-out defense. Defense wins championships, and the Panthers lead the league in interceptions & have the lowest quarterback rating against them. The Denver quarterback can be prone to having a bad game, and if there's a team that can force a re-run of Super Bowl XLVIII, it would be the Panthers.
Regardless of what happens this Sunday, Peyton Manning will forever be in the debate with Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Brett Favre, Tom Brady and whoever else you want to throw in there as the greatest quarterback of all time. The Brady head-to-head comparison, I find overblown. Sure, Brady has a wide series lead, but Peyton holds a 3-1 lead over Brady in AFC Championship Games. That tells me Peyton won the ones that mattered. Putting that all aside...Peyton just doesn't have a good Super Bowl track record. He didn't play all that great in the one he actually won against the Bears, didn't play great against the Saints, and got humiliated by the Seahawks. He'll go down as one of the greatest even if he lays an egg this Sunday, but you know as well as I do that many pundits will declare this game the difference between top-5 all time and top-10.
Fortunately for the Broncos, they have the best defense in the NFL. They've given up the fewest yards, accumulated the most sacks, and have more than made up for any shortcomings from the offense. Wade Phillips has this unit cooking like never before, and even though Cam Newton will point out that they haven't played a quarterback like him yet, he hasn't played a defense like them yet. They get two weeks to study him and come up with an answer...I like their chances more than most. Add in the fact that Von Miller & Chris Harris didn't play in that previous Super Bowl, and you get even more motivation in addition to the fact it's likely Peyton's last game.
I can't win either way on this pick. If I go with the Panthers, Jeremy Lambert will blame me and my bad luck if they lose. If I go with the Broncos, Dustin James will be mad because he hates the Broncos. Dustin gets over these things quicker than Jeremy does, so it's a good thing that I think the Broncos are at a good value getting six points here. They've been here before. They've been blown out before. The last thing they want is for that to happen again. This is all new for these Carolina Panthers. We've seen them get tight butts at the end of games before...what happens if they get tight butts on the biggest stage of them all? The Broncos have too much to lose to not take advantage of that.
I think it's going to be one of those great Super Bowl games that comes down to the last possession and is remembered for years to come. Hopefully I'm right, there's nothing worse than a lame Super Bowl game that isn't even worth getting drunk for and being miserable on Monday morning. Enjoy the game, everybody!
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