CSB Staff Super Bowl LVII Prop Picks

One of the best parts of wagering on the Super Bowl is the thousands of props and novelty markets that are available to bettors from online sportsbooks.

This will be the first Super Bowl that bettors in Ontario can enjoy the plethora of legal sportsbooks that are now available. These bettors also now have the ability to shop around for the best odds on game lines and props for the big game.

Canada Sports Betting’s editors have been busy handicapping the available prop markets for bettors in advance of Super Bowl LVII and are ready to share their respective picks:

Greg Warren’s prop picks

Travis Kelce Anytime TD -105

This might be one of the most boring and straightforward prop bets being offered for the Super Bowl this year, but there’s just too much evidence that suggests Kelce is destined to find the end zone on Sunday to ignore.

Kelce has at least one touchdown reception in each of his last five playoff games (six touchdowns during that span) and 15 touchdowns in 17 career playoff games.

The Chiefs tight end has been targeted 25 times by Patrick Mahomes and the pair have connected for three touchdowns during Kansas City’s previous two playoff games this year.

Kelce has also proven that he can perform under pressure on the game’s biggest stage, hauling in 16 catches for 176 yards and a touchdown in two career Super Bowl matchups.

At even money, Mahomes’ favourite target is a solid play to find pay dirt at least once in Super Bowl LVII. In fact, he might even do it twice (+500 at bet365).

Match Odds
Travis Kelce Anytime TD-105

Length of the national anthem – over 121.5 seconds -130 (Sports Interaction)

Most of the sportsbooks I checked have the over/under for the national anthem at 125 seconds, but Sports Interaction has set its line lower at 121.5 seconds and the -120 price doesn’t hurt too much.

This year’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner will be performed by country music artist Chris Stapleton, who has won eight Grammy Awards among other accolades.

Don’t overthink this prop. Country music is generally slow-paced and a quick YouTube search will reveal that Stapleton loves to drag out his songs when he’s performing live when compared to the album version (sometimes by three minutes or longer).

A good comparison for Stapleton may be the 2017 Super Bowl anthem singer and fellow country music artist Luke Bryan, who sang the anthem in two minutes, four seconds.

Just for reference, Alicia Keys holds the record for the longest rendition of the national anthem at two minutes, 36 seconds.

Jake Dee-McKoy’s prop picks

Jalen Hurts Anytime First Half TD +275 (bet365)

Like Greg I’m going with a Touchdown prop here but I’m gonna put my money on Eagles’ QB Jalen Hurts and I’m gonna limit the scope to the first half.

Despite absolutely steam rolling their way through the playoffs thus far (to the tune of a combined 69-14 score line in their two post season games), there’s still the sense that the Eagles are the team with more to prove in this Championship game. The Chiefs are the seasoned playoff team and have been there and done that many times in recent years.

With that in mind I see Philadelphia coming out of the gates quickly, aiming to get the neutral site crowd on their side and put up points at the pace they have been thus far.

The Eagles will aim to put KC on the back foot, and speaking of feet, they’ll try to make the Chiefs worry about whether their hobbled QB can keep up with Jalen Hurts at his most effective.

This would usually be a toss-up between Hurts and Eagles’ RB Miles Sanders, but I’m giving the edge to Hurts as a score from their star QB will be the kind of statement Philly wants to make early.

Match Odds
Jalen Hurts 1st Half Anytime TD+275

Half Time Show – First Song Performed – Where have you Been +510 (Sports Interaction)

I must admit I’m not the music expert I once was, and even if I were, Rihanna would remain a mystery. That being said, even folks like us who write about sports betting must be humble and ask for help sometimes, especially when dealing with something as high stakes as the Super Bowl 57 Half Time show.

When making a tough decision, if you can enlist the help of an expert then by all means do so, and it just so happens that in this case, my sister is that expert. I reached out to her to help me determine exactly what Rihanna is thinking. How she will go about planning this monster show. Sis is a Rihanna head to say the least, and having followed her career closer than anyone I know, and having seen her live many times, I knew she’d have the inside scoop.

She thought long and hard about which song would captivate the crowd at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, remarking that Rihanna “Likes to come in with an intense vocal moment”, and that the entire performance will “ooze cool”.

Finally after agonizing over the decision she settled on “Where have you been” as the high energy opener to knock our socks off. Well sis, this bet’s for you 🤞

Jeff Veillette’s prop picks

Patrick Mahomes over 18.5 Rushing Yards -110 (bet365)

Look, I know what you’re thinking. It probably sounds a lot like “Is he out of his mind?!” with some expletives mixed in. After all, it is extremely public information that Mahomes is playing with a sprained ankle that won’t be back to normal in time for Sunday, and that playing with such a sprain is, uh, counter-intuitive to the run game.

Here’s my line of thinking, though – this is the last game of the season, with either the peak out of the mountain top or maximum heartbreak at stake. There isn’t any football left for Mahomes to save his body for over the next few months. Yes, he’s stayed at just sixteen total rushing yards in the last two games as he’s played through this, but there was also a tomorrow to try to conserve himself for. Now, there’s less of one than ever. Especially if this game is tight down the stretch, he’ll start to take risks if the passing game isn’t going for him.

With that in mind, it’s not a terribly unprecedented number. His average this season is a little over 20 yards per game, and he’s had 11 games this year with single runs longer than 10 yards. In previous Super Bowls, when he’s had his back against the wall, he’s leaned on that option, running 33 yards in 2021’s Super Bowl LV and 29 yards in Super Bowl LIV the year prior. I don’t reckon we’re going to see him outrun Jalen Hurts, and I do reckon we’re going to be watching with baited breath if he decides to go at any point, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he does and he gets across this line. It’ll be another “can’t believe he did that” for the story books.

Match Odds
Patrick Mahomes Rushing Yards Over 18.5 (-110)

Total Punts Under 7.5 -140 (bet365)

I’m going to be honest, a lot of this is wishful thinking on my part. Personally, I hate punting as a general concept. I’m a big believer in always going for it, unless you’re in a near-impossible situation to convert on fourth. Probability favours it, and the punt is usually the least entertaining option, which goes against the whole “professional sports league entertainment product” thing. My dream is that this game has zero punts. This game and every game. Abolish punting.

Thankfully, these teams seem to agree with me, both in the bottom five of the NFL for the fewest punts during the 2022 season, combining for 109 cowardly concessions of the football. The Chiefs average 3.1 punts per game, and the Eagles 3.3. Now, they obviously have to go up against each other, which ups the difficulty versus an average team, but the two teams are also pretty middle of the pack in terms of conceding first downs, with Philadelphia giving up the 14th-fewest and Kansas City conceding the 19th-fewest. Meanwhile, they were second and first respectively in achieving first down. I choose to believe that their offensive possessions with be lengthy, dynamic, and fruitful, keeping us out of punting misery.

Match Odds
Total PuntsUnder 7.5 (-140)