After turning in a 49-15 destruction of the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game, the Carolina Panthers are headed to their first Super Bowl since 2004, where they will take on the AFC champion Denver Broncos as early 4.5-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Carolina knocked off the Cardinals in the postseason for a second straight year, easily covering as 3-point chalk to extend their current against-the-spread winning streak to three games ahead of their upcoming matchup with the Broncos in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.
The Panthers are averaging 40 points over two playoff games, extending their trend as the highest-scoring team in the NFL after averaging 31.3 points per game in the regular season.
But while Carolina has been unbeatable at home, winners of 13 in a row straight up, they have been slightly less dominant in contests away from Bank of America Stadium.
The Panthers suffered their lone defeat of the season in their last road contest, a 20-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16, and are winless ATS in their last three on the road, surrendering an average of 28.7 points per game during that stretch while eking out narrow 3-point wins in their previous two road dates, according to the OddsShark NFL Database.
Meanwhile, the Broncos silenced the naysayers once again with their 20-18 win over New England in the AFC title game, rewarding bettors as 3-point underdogs in their second conference championship clash with the Patriots in three years.
While Carolina put their vaunted offensive machine on display in their win over Arizona, the Broncos showed why they were among the leaders in team defense this season, putting constant pressure on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, which resulted in a pair of interceptions and four sacks.
The SU victory is the fourth straight for the Broncos following a lackluster regular-season homestretch, where they dropped four of their previous seven and ended their five-game ATS winless streak.
Denver held opponents to just 18.4 points per game but tallied under 22 points per game during their recent ATS slide, and have now seen the point total play UNDER in five of their past seven outings.
Super Bowl 50 marks the first meeting between the Panthers and Broncos since November 2012, and just the fifth meeting all-time between the two teams. Denver holds a 3-1 SU edge in head-to-head meetings with the Panthers, holding Carolina to 17 points or fewer in those victories, although the clubs are even at 2-2 ATS.