Super Bowl XLIII: Bettors back Cards’ offense

Bettors don't expect the Pittsburgh Steelers top-ranked defense to contain the Arizona Cardinals' offense during Super Bowl XLIII Sunday night.

Since the Total for Super Bowl XLIII opened at 46 ½-points, Sportsbook.com members have been consistently backing the Over, with 63% of bettors expecting the offenses to combine to beat the number.

"It's definitely interesting to see how everyone is betting the Total," said Sportsbook.com spokesman Dave Staley. "Pittsburgh has shut down some pretty potent offenses and these teams went under the 42 ½-point total when they played last season.

"The Cardinals offense seems to have caught everyone's attention in these playoffs."

With a 31.6-point average over the three playoff games, Arizona's offense caught fire at just the right time. The Cardinals put up 34 points in the regular season finale after it looked like this team was dead in the water, scoring just a combined 21 points in Week 15 and Week 16 losses to Minnesota and New England.

Those late-season losses were a big reason why bettors hopped on the Atlanta Falcons for the Wild-Card game in Arizona at the start of January. The Cardinals didn't look anything like a playoff team but they found a running game, got big plays on defense and made huge plays through the air on offense against the Falcons.

While bettors continually doubted the Cardinals and waited for them to fall back to Earth, they found success the same way in their wins over Carolina and Philadelphia, much to the chagrin of the same bettors that are now backing them heading into Super Bowl XLIII.

Only 15% of bettors sided with the Cardinals when they hosted the Falcons and while bettors were split when the team ventured to Carolina, Arizona bettors received a lot of points.

The betting public again turned their backs on the Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game. Hosting Philadelphia as 3 ½-point underdogs, only 25% of bettors put their money on Arizona and Eagles' backers paid for it dearly.

Now, heading into Super Bowl XLIII, the Cardinals appear to have finally garnered the respect they've been trying to earn for years. Facing the Steelers #1 defense which allowed a league-low 13.9 points per game and just 237.2 total yards per game, bettors are not only backing the Over, they're backing the Cardinals too.

Listed as seven-point underdogs since the line opened, bettors have developed a liking for the underdog Cardinals. While early bettors slightly favored Pittsburgh, the Sportsbook.com Betting Trends have shown a slow but gradual increase in action on Arizona.

"Arizona beat Pittsburgh 21-14 last year and the longer people think about this matchup, the more of a chance they seem to be giving the Cardinals," said Staley. "Head coach Ken Whisenhunt has also come up with some good game-plans so far and he'll know what to expect from the Pittsburgh defense on Sunday."

Whisenhunt coached within the Pittsburgh organization for six years before being overlooked for the head coaching job that was given to current Steelers' coach Mike Tomlin.

Disappointed by the oversight, Whisenhunt accepted the job in Arizona and would like nothing more than to out-coach and beat the team that shunned him two years ago.

Bet on the 2009 Super Bowl at Sportsbook.com

Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter