1. Your Super Bowl favorites through three weeks: The Green Bay Packers (+325), New England Patriots (+400), Seattle Seahawks (+800), Denver Broncos (+900) and Arizona Cardinals (+900).
2. Aaron Rodgers is a slightly bigger favorite to win the NFL MVP award than Tom Brady. Depending on the book, it’s basically 3/2 for Rodgers versus 2/1 for Brady. Then there’s an enormous drop-off, with the next best odds going to Carson Palmer at 16/1. Both Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson are 18/1, while Rob Gronkowski is at 20/1. Is there any situation in which Gronk could win it over a healthy Brady? No. If Randy Moss couldn’t nab a single vote after breaking the NFL record in touchdown receptions in 2007 (in a year in which Brady was sublime and deservedly earned 49 of 50 votes), Gronk doesn’t have a shot.
(Getty Images)
3. According to oddschecker.com, the second-most action is on Andrew Luck at 25/1, which makes sense as he started the year as the odds-on MVP favorite at 3/1 so people assume they’re getting value. But it’s hard to win MVP when you’re last in the league in QB rating.
4. Oh, and if you’re interested in wasting money but burning it doesn’t seem flashy enough, you can get 500/1 odds on Johnny Manziel winning the MVP, which is absurd, as there’s about a 500/1 shot that Manziel would win a theoretical Cleveland Browns MVP this season.
5. The Patriots are getting better than 2/1 odds (+175) to win the AFC. This year’s preseason favorite was the Indianapolis Colts (+325). Andrew Luck’s 1-2 squad is now 10/1, fourth best in the conference, behind the Pats, Denver (+375) and a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 1990, Cincinnati (6/1).
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
6. Green Bay is getting even better odds to win the NFC (+160). The Packers are following by Seattle (+475), Arizona (5/1), Atlanta (12/1) and, interestingly, Philadelphia (also 12/1).
7. The Packers are also the biggest favorites to win their own division, getting 1/10 odds, meaning you have to bet $1,000 to win $100. The closest division, according to Vegas, is the NFC East, with the Eagles at +110, Dallas at +250, New York at +275 and the Redskins at 10/1, which is certainly a better bet than Philly basically getting evens.
8. Chicago and Jacksonville have the worst odds to win their respective conferences, at 200/1 each.
(AP)
9. Prior to Thursday night’s game, the Oakland Raiders (28/1) were getting better odds to win the AFC than the Baltimore Ravens (33/1).
10. Seattle, a full two games behind Arizona in the NFC West, is still favored to win the division over the Cardinals, getting -110 to Arizona’s +110.
11. Joe Philbin is the prohibitive favorite to be the first coach fired during the season at 3/2. Jim Caldwell (9/2) is second and Chuck Pagano (8/1), who’s led his team to the playoffs in the past three seasons but is battling with his general manager, is third. Jim Tomsula at 16/1 seems like a pretty good take to me.
(Getty Images)
12. Julio Jones is 5/1 to break the NFL’s single-season record for reception yards. The record is 1,964, set by Calvin Johnson in 2012. Jones, who has 440 yards through Week 3, is on pace for 2,347 yards.
13. Matt Forte is slightly favored to stay with the Chicago Bears this season and not get traded.
14. The New England Patriots are 15/1 to go undefeated, which is insane. The Pats are good, but 15/1 to do something that’s only been done once before in NFL history? Come on. Only five teams are getting better odds to win the Super Bowl!
(The Arizona Republic)
