New York Giants Prevail In Super Bowl XLVI

After all of the hype leading up to the Super Bowl XLVI, it was the New York Giants that came out on top as the champions of the 2011 NFL season. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots would not have their revenge, losing to the Giants in the big game once again.

The outright win as a three-point underdog capped off an impressive 6-0 run both straight up and against the spread for the Giants to end the season. New York got the job done with its strong defense, allowing just 14 points per game while going under the total five times over that six game stretch.

Sunday’s final of 21-17 stayed comfortably under the total of 53, which had been bet all the way down from 55½.

Over the course of this year’s playoffs, underdogs were 6-4-1 ATS and totals betting trended slightly towards the ‘over’ at 6-5. In the Wild Card Round, favorites were 3-1 ATS and the total went ‘over’ in three of the four games, meaning underdogs were 5-1-1 ATS and the total went ‘under’ four times during the final seven postseason tilts.

Home teams went 8-2 over the course of the playoffs, with both road wins coming in upsets by the Giants over Green Bay and San Francisco.

This year’s exciting postseason was prefaced by a regular season filled with captivating stories. Heading into Week 15, the possibility of having both an undefeated and a winless team looked very realistic as the Green Bay Packers were 13-0 and the Indianapolis Colts were 0-13. Both streaks came to an end that week as the Packers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Colts upset the Tennessee Titans.

Green Bay’s season ended in disappointment at the hands of the New York Giants; a team that didn’t lock up its playoff berth until the final game of the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys. Both Dallas and the Philadelphia Eagles were more heavily favored to take the NFC East than New York was, but both fell short as the Giants prevailed.

The fall of perennial AFC contender Indianapolis paved the way for some new teams in the AFC to make the playoffs, including the Houston Texans and the Cincinnati Bengals, who met in the Wild Card Round.

It was the first time in Houston’s franchise history making the playoffs, and the Texans picked up their first playoff win in dominating fashion, 31-10, despite being down to their third-string quarterback in T.J. Yates. With Matt Schaub back at the helm next year, Houston should enter the season as the favorite to win the AFC South.

While the Bengals lost in the first round, the future is clearly bright in Cincinnati. Rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green led the Bengals into the playoffs coming off of a 4-12 season in 2010. It will be difficult to gain ground in the brutal AFC North, but Cincinnati looks to have the makings of a contender.

And no season wrap-up is complete without mention of Tim Tebow, who’s thrilling antics seemed to overshadow the rest of the league’s action every week. Tebow took over for Kyle Orton after the Broncos started the season 1-4, and proceeded to go 7-1 SU and 6-1-1 ATS over his first eight games as starter. While Tebow and the Broncos fizzled out to end the regular season with three straight losses, they had one more big game left in them with an overtime upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a 7½-point home underdog in the Wild Card Round.