The Super Bowl betting for the 2011 season will put the New York Giants against the New England Patriots. The Patriots enter this game as -3 favorites, but there are several elements that bettors should take into account before using the pay per head sportsbook betting line as the main indicator of who could win this game.

New York Giants

The New York Giants beat a good Atlanta Falcons team in the wild card round, completely surprised the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round and then stunned the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. That is the kind of momentum that most playoff teams dream of but yet few have ever been able to accomplish. The Giants use its battering-ram style of defense to keep the opposing offense under wraps. But New York will need to use strategy if it wants to keep the Patriots’ wide receivers and tight ends under control.

New England Patriots

The Patriots entered the playoffs with the 31^st ranked defense in the league, but the New England defense has not played like it is one of the worst in the league in the playoffs. The NFL scores posted by the Patriots in the playoffs had a lot to do with how well the defense played. However, the Patriots’ defense has not come up against an offense like New York’s yet in the playoffs. The Giants have a lot of ways to beat a team and the New England defense may have to rely on points scored by the New England offense to win this game.

The Bottom Line

The Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons was questionable decisions made by Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh such as going for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal and then not taking a timeout late in the game and giving his field goal unit time to get itself settled. The Giants do not make those errors and this will be a very interesting Super Bowl to watch.

Pick: New York Giants