Right now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are salting away a victory in Super Bowl LV. Despite being underdogs, Tom Brady and Tampa Bay have stunned the football world, turning in a double-digit victory over the favored Kansas City Chiefs. This will be Brady’s seventh Super Bowl ring, and with his three first-half touchdown passes, it is likely that he will pick up another Super Bowl MVP award.

1. Collins had a passer rating for the game of only 7.1, the second worst in Super Bowl history, threw four interceptions (tying a Super Bowl record that has since been surpassed by Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon's five INTs in Super Bowl XXXVII) and completed only 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards. Barber was the Giants' leading rusher with 49 yards.
2. More than 26,000 men have played in the National Football League. Only 47 of them can claim to be a Super Bowl MVP. There have been 54 Super Bowls prior to 2021. Five players have won the award.

The home of NFL Super Bowl news, ticket, apparel & event info. Get Super Bowl Sunday info about the National Football League's annual championship game.

But there is a better choice.

Here’s why Shaquil Barrett should be the MVP of Super Bowl LV.

The biggest question mark of the entire two-week buildup to Super Bowl LV was this: How would Todd Bowles and the Tampa Bay defense slow down Patrick Mahomes and the explosive Kansas City offense? After all, just a few months ago this Chiefs offense came into Raymond James Stadium and hung 17 points on the Buccaneers in the first quarter alone, en route to a three-point win.

The answer? Pressure and speed. While we all did the math and tried to come up with calculations for how the Buccaneers secondary would cover the various Kansas City weapons, Bowles and the Tampa Bay defense found ways to pressure Mahomes throughout the game, often forcing the young quarterback to simply run for his life.

To be fair, part of this might be due to the Chiefs being forced to play with a number of backups up front due to injuries. But the Buccaneers were able to get pressure early and often, and usually just bringing four after Mahomes. On many occasions, it was Shaquil Barrett who was bringing the heat.

It started early, with the pass rusher getting to Mahomes for a knockdown shortly after kickoff:

But as the game wore on, Barrett continued to wear on Mahomes and the Chiefs passing game. Take this sack of Mahomes from the third quarter:

Barrett keeps his motor running, fighting through the left tackle and finally getting to Mahomes for the sack.

Prior to halftime, it looked like the Chiefs were finally going to get into the end zone to make it a much tighter game when The Weeknd took the stage. Instead, Kansas City was forced to settle for three points. Why? Because it was Barrett who fought through the offensive line and flushed Mahomes, sending him running for his life before he was forced to throw the ball away:

Barrett was also part of this trio of pressure on Mahomes in the fourth quarter, combining for the sack of the KC quarterback. This time he is working through the right tackle to help get to the QB:

In Super Bowl XLII, Steve Spagnuolo put together a game plan against Tom Brady and the previously-unbeaten New England Patriots. That plan included using pressure from four defenders up front to frustrate Brady and slow down one of the most explosive offenses in football.

On this night, Spagnuolo had a front-row seat while another team did that to his offense. And it was Shaquil Barrett who led the way, helping to answer the most vexing question in football: How do you slow down Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs?

For that, he should win Super Bowl MVP.

February 8, 2021
By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com
Sign up to receive daily news from VegasInsider

Most Nevada sportsbooks showed a win with the Buccaneers 38-9 win over the Chiefs (-3) in Super Bowl 55, despite large losses in futures and the Bucs money-line which closed at a consensus of +140.

Super Bowl 55 Mvp

A few books reported a larger handle than last season’s Super Bowl despite less future handle because of being closed for several weeks during the initial stages of the pandemic, and also fewer people on game day because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“It was a decent day for us, under was the best for us, said Nevada’s BetMGM sportsbook director Jeff Stoneback. “The props turned out okay as well, but we lost seven-figures in Super Bowl futures.”

Quite a few people had large bets placed all over Las Vegas taking 50 and 60-to-1 odds before Tom Brady was announced as his destination on March 19 where most books dropped down to 14-to-1 odds after.

“It was a very solid day for us,” said Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook VP Jay Kornegay. “We did well in three-fourths of the main categories. We did well on the point-spread, total, and props. The Bucs money-line was the only negative but we’re not complaining. We’ll take that every year.”

Advertisement

“It was a satisfying day,” he said. “Handle was almost exactly the number we posted last year despite the future pool being well below last year (pandemic). We actually wrote more on this year’s game than we did last year.

William Hill’s 100-plus sportsbooks in Nevada had the same story as most other books.

“We lost on futures, lost on the money-line, but won the total, side, and won a little on the props, “ said William Hill’s director of trading Nick Bogdanovich. “It was a solid day with a monster handle.”

Sounds like a Nevada state record for handle ($158 million) will be challenged? Maybe?

Stoneback had unforeseen issues occur on Sunday that went beyond the game. Technology let his team down at the worst moment.

“We were down from about 10 minutes to kickoff until 9:30 pm (PT) and while most of the people affected were understanding about the situation but there were a few that were very vocal about being unhappy and not getting paid right after the game,” Stoneback said.

It’s the most helpless feeling as the boss of a book when the system shuts down and not knowing how to fix it. Magnify the feeling times 100 on Super Bowl day.

The good news for Stoneback and the MGM books on the strip was that they didn’t have their usual Super Bowl crowd.

“The Mirage had only 47% occupancy on Saturday night,” he said. “We have more people staying with us for Valentine’s Day weekend next week.”

The results of not having as much over-the-counter cash coming in on Saturday and Sunday made Stoneback a bit skeptical of setting a Nevada Super Bowl handle record.

However, they had bigger bets this season than 2020 such as $2.3 million bet on the Bucs +3.5 (-115), $500,000 bet on the Chiefs money-line, and on game day had another $2.5 million on the Chiefs money-line as well as $1 million teaser on the Bucs to over (+9, 50) which lost.

That’s over $6 million on handle alone on four different bets. That’s some huge action. I was much more optimistic of them helping break a state record than Stoneback was.

Nevada Gaming Control will announce how the state did later Monday evening.

All the books stayed unified in not moving below -3 to -2.5 and the under (56), which the sharps bet down early from 57, helped every book in beating parlay risk.

William Hill Super Bowl 55 Markets & Results

Super Bowl Mvp Voting Results

For bettors who used William Hill as their operator for Super Bowl 55, here are some great highlights from their handle on Sunday.

Tom Brady was available at 9/5 (+180) odds to win Super Bowl 55 MVP. Brady was the most popular choice for winning MVP among bettors at William Hill Sports Books in both total dollars wagered (21%) and unique tickets wagered (10%). A William Hill Nevada customer netted $9,000 after placing $5,000 on Brady to win the award.

Along with the TB12 connection, here are some other popular Super Bowl 55 prop markets that paid out on Sunday at WH.

Super Bowl Mvp Results 2020

• Chiefs to score exactly 9 Points: 150/1 (+15000)
• Chiefs NO Touchdown(s) scored: 60/1 (+6000).
• Byron Pringle as Chief with First Reception: 25/1 (+2500).
• 19 to 24 Buccaneers exact magin of victory: 25/1 (+2500).
• Gronkowski to score 2 or more Touchdowns: 16/1 (+1600).
• Mahomes to NOT have a Passing Touchdown: 15/1 (+1500).
• Gronkowski to score First Touchdown 14/1 (+1400).
• Buccaneers to score exactly 31 Points: 14/1 (+1400).
• Buccaneers to cover altenate spread of Bucaneers -14.5: 7/1 (+700).
• Gronkowski to score First Touchdown for Buccaneers: 6/1 (+600).
• Butker to score First Points: 5/1 (+500).
• 44 to 49 Yards Distance of First Made Field Goal: 4/1 (+400).
• Yes on at least one scoreless Quarter: +380.
• 81 to 99 is the Jersey Number of First TD: +320.
• Mahomes to throw an INT before a Passing TD: +310.
• Godwin as Buccaneer with First Reception: 16/5 (+320).
• Brady to have exactly 3 Passing Touchdowns: +240.
• Opening Kickoff was NOT a Touchback: 2/1 (+200).
• Scotty Miller OVER 0.5 Rushing Attempts: 2/1 (+200).
• Yes on Antonio Brown to score a Touchdown: +180.
• Yes on Gronkowski to score a Touchdown: +175.
• First score of game is a Field Goal or Safety: +145.
• Buccaneer Player scores 2 or more Touchdowns: +130.
• Buccaners are first to score 20 Points: +130.