It's been more than a week since the matchup was set for Super Bowl 49, and already we've seen quite a bit of shifting in the odds for the game.
After the Seattle Seahawks opened as 2-point favorites over the New England Patriots, the line quickly moved toward a pick 'em and has settled now at the beginning of Super Bowl week with the Patriots as 1-point favorites, according to most of the sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. For Seattle supporters looking to cash in on the best lines, Bovada sportsbook currently has the Patriots as 2-point favorites. The public consensus as of Monday morning also favors the Patriots, with 57 percent of the money bet on the spread backing New England, according to OddsShark.
Super Bowl Picks
Super Bowl Picks
With the big game featuring two No. 1 seeds for just the 11th time since 1975 -- when the playoff format started using regular season records to establish home-field advantage -- we are set up on paper for one of the most evenly matched and highly competitive Super Bowls ever.
The over/under line has shifted downwards slightly to 47.5, after opening at 48.5 points last week. This is a tough call to make with both team's strengths pitted against each other. Seattle's dominant defense has allowed an average of 9.8 points per game during its current eight-game winning streak, while the Patriots have averaged a whopping 40 points per game in their first two playoff contests. Recent trends do favor the over in this game, though, as the teams have gone over in each of their last three meetings.
Super Bowl XLIX will be played on Feb. 1 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The game will be broadcast on NBC.