posted January 22, 2008 at 15:15 EST in NFL Articles

The Super Bowl is by far the biggest game on the NFL betting calendar. Millions of people will wager for or against the New England Patriots covering a fat 12-point spread – already down from 13 at the open – against the New York Giants. Many will continue their annual tradition of pairing a sharp wager on the pointspread with one or more of the ever-growing number of Super Bowl proposition bets.

Just because these props fall under the category of exotic betting doesn’t mean you can’t apply some brainpower. If anything, this is where you can get an edge on the much less informed betting public. Consider these three popular offerings:

Will there be a safety in the game? (Yes +800; No –3000)

These rarities are a common trap for casual bettors. It’s easy to visualize a safety happening, but it’s far from an everyday occurrence. This happened to be an unusually busy season in the end zone with 18 safeties; that’s still 18 in 240 games, which would suggest 13.3-1 odds (vig not included) if you believe a safety is a largely random event.

Will a kick-off be returned for a TD? (Yes +800; No –3000)

The most exciting play in football is a much more frequent occurrence: 25 kicks were brought back for touchdowns during the 2007 regular season. But this potential outcome speaks more to the skill of the individual kick returners. New England’s Ellis Hobbs and New York’s Domenik Hixon each brought one back to the house this year, so without taking the quality of the two coverage units into consideration (the Pats are good, the Giants not so much), you could generate a very rough estimate of an 8-1 chance there will be a kick return for a TD.

Will a punt be returned for a TD? (Yes +500; No –1000)

There were 17 of these scored in 2007, and four of them were by Devin Hester. Neither the Giants nor the Patriots scored one this year: R.W. McQuarters and Wes Welker have actually been slightly below average in punt return efficiency. Yet the payout is lower for “Yes” than for the more likely kick-off return. These are the kind of inconsistencies in the NFL odds you can find on the Super Bowl XLII props list.

> > Check Super Bowl Odds Here

The 2007 NFL betting season is here in full force! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The BetUS sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join BetUS today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLII and beyond!