Panthers vs. Broncos: Super Bowl 50 Game Time, Prop Odds and Prediction

Super Bowl 50 has everything: fried food, alcohol, excessive advertising and a prolonged intermission. Perhaps most important of all is the compulsive gambling on every minuscule detail.

Per Odds Shark's Joe Osborne, "Will Peyton Manning be seen crying?" is an actual prop bet with real odds and everything. Someone somewhere is spending time deliberating this question and considering placing money on it. (OK, fine, he won't. Next?)

There's also a championship on the line between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. Before finalizing the Super Bowl prediction, let's examine some of the most exploitable (and ridiculous) prop bets on the docket.

Super Bowl 50: Carolina Panthers vs. Denver Broncos

Date: Sunday, Feb. 7

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

Where: Levi's Stadium; Santa Clara, California

TV: CBS

Prop Bets

Heads or Tails?

Heads or Tails?	Odds
Heads	-105
Tails	-105

If you're betting on a coin toss, seek help. You might have a gambling problem. 

First Scoring Play

First Score	Odds
Touchdown	-145
Field Goal or Safety	+115

According to Osborne, 49 percent of Super Bowls have opened with a touchdown. That leaves 45 percent to field goals and six percent (three of 49 games) improbably starting with a safety. Holding out hope for a fourth safety is a gambler's fallacy, but this prop combines it with a field goal to give bettors a fighting chance. 

If Denver gets the first opportunity, the field goal looks good. The regular season's No. 16 offense isn't going to breeze through a No. 6 defense. Besides, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak calls an unapologetically conservative game, so he's a prime candidate to take the points. And you can bet broadcasters Phil Simms and Jim Nantz will praise the safe decision, even if it's 4th-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line and the Panthers forgot to send anyone out for the play.

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

Carolina is a tad more aggressive, but head coach Ron Rivera probably won't scoff at a 3-0 lead against a defensive juggernaut. Riverboat Ron's squad actually attempted one more field goal (36) than Denver during the regular season.

Both teams boast too many defensive studs to allow a shootout. This contest could start and conclude with more field goals than touchdowns. 

Will Panthers Player Who Scores First Give Touchdown Ball to a Boy or Girl?

Boy or Girl?	Odds
Boy	-200
Girl	+150

Wait, why aren't these even odds for the equivalent of a coin flip? Did Cam Newton decry girls for having cooties during a media session? 

Anyone who wants to bet on something random and stupid might as well pick the random, stupid prop with a flawed payout. 

Will Cam Newton Throw an Interception?

Newton INT	Odds
Over 0.5	-170
Under 0.5	+140

Before Patrick Peterson picked him off in the NFC Championship Game, Newton went five consecutive games without coughing up an interception. In 18 games, the newly minted MVP has thrown 11 balls to the wrong team.

More often than not, Newton doesn't turn the ball over. It's not like he donated possessions with the generosity of a Manning before this season; he holds a career 2.6 interception percentage and hasn't lost more than 13 in a single season since his rookie campaign.

Yet the odds are counting on him throwing at least one pick. This is likely out of respect to the Denver Broncos' No. 1-ranked defense, which picked off the typically careful Tom Brady twice in the AFC Championship Game. 

Denver's defense is as tough as they come, but it doesn't normally gulp up turnovers like Carolina. After picking Brady's pocket twice, to the credit of an unrelenting pass rush, the Broncos now have 16 interceptions in 18 games.

Could Newton throw a pick? Sure, but why not take the odds that a top quarterback not prone to huge mistakes won't make a huge mistake?

Will Mike Carey Be Wrong About a Challenge?

Will Carey Be Wrong?	Odds
Yes	+135
No	-175

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus must have set the line on this one. In a conference call last week, per USA Today's Lorenzo Reyes, he defended the former referee's aptitude as the booth's officiating expert.

"I’ve seen some of the criticism, and I think some of it is very hurtful, quite frankly," McManus said. "But Mike is learning his craft and, I think more often than not, he has gotten it right. But I’ll also say that he has disagreed a number of times in some very high-profile situations with what the (replay) officials have come back with."

Except, you know, when he usually gets it wrong. The real question here is whether there will be a challenge or reviewed play to analyze. It's the biggest game of the year in a league where nobody—including people paid to know—can define what is or isn't a catch. Of course, there will be disputed calls for Carey to scrutinize in front of a massive audience. If McManus thought Twitter users were mean before... 

Prediction: Panthers 24, Broncos 16

Arguably more important than the outcome of a coin flip or gender of a child receiving a souvenir, which football team will score more points?

If the Broncos can again hit a superstar quarterback on every other play and stop a two-point conversion spawned by an earlier missed extra point, they're golden. Or is it too late to travel back in time and have the Cardinals injure all of the Panthers' offensive stars like the Cincinnati Bengals did to the Pittsburgh Steelers?

The Broncos know who they are, and it has worked this long. Manning is more of a babysitter than star quarterback at this point, and it's all on the defense and running game to edge out another single-score victory. With such a small margin of error, their run is about to expire.

The Panthers have a better offensive line than the Patriots, and they're healthier than the Steelers. Their offense creates matchup nightmares for everyone, and their defense excels in manufacturing takeaways. They have also already defeated two teams better than the Broncos this postseason.

Denver's defense has defied the odds, but Carolina will steal the show by bullying Manning into costly turnovers, ultimately securing the Lombardi Trophy.