All eyes will be on quarterback Peyton Manning when the five-time NFL MVP leads the Denver Broncos into action against the Carolina Panthers at Super Bowl 50 as 5.5-point betting underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Manning will be making his fourth career Super Bowl appearance in Sunday’s matchup at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara as a +275 bet on the odds to win the Super Bowl MVP award for the second time in his career, trailing only Panthers pivot Cam Newton who remains perched as -130 chalk to claim the honor this weekend.
It proved to be a less than stellar regular season for Manning, who threw for a career-low 2,249 yards and nine touchdowns while being hampered by a nagging foot injury that resulted in him missing six contests.
That has led to rampant speculation that the Super XLI MVP will wrap up his illustrious career following Sunday’s matchup, with +500 odds on the Super Bowl 50 props that Manning will announce his retirement in a postgame interview, and +600 odds of the quarterback being overcome by emotion and shedding a tear live on television.
Manning silenced the naysayers in the Broncos’ 20-18 victory over New England last week, powering the Denver offense to a pair of early touchdown scores and a lead that the club would not relinquish en route to their second AFC Championship Game victory over the Patriots in the past three years.
The 39-year-old’s two touchdown throws against New England ended a three-game stretch in which Manning failed to connect with a receiver in the end zone, and just the sixth game this season that he completed a scoring pass.
Those struggles are reflected in the Super Bowl quarterbacks props at the sportsbooks, where the line on total touchdown passes thrown by Manning on Sunday is set at 1.5, with the UNDER favored with -125 odds.
Manning’s passing yardage has also dropped off this season, cracking 300 yards in a game just twice after shattering that mark on seven occasions in 2014. The Broncos pivot has averaged just 199 passing yards per game in this year’s playoffs, but is a -125 favorite to throw OVER 235.5 yards against the Panthers.
Interceptions were too common this year for Manning, who tossed 17 picks on just 331 attempts during the regular season. Not surprisingly, Manning is a -225 bet to throw at least one pick on Sunday, while the odds of him making OVER 35.5 attempts are pegged at -125.