2009 Super Bowl XLIII Prop Betting Picks: Edgerrin James Prop Bets

Article Courtesy of Lawrence Prezman, An award winning professional sports handicapper featured on Touthouse.com. If you are looking for winning Superbowl xliii prop betting advice be sure to purchase his expert 2009 Superbowl prop bets.

Sunday’s Super Bowl will be the final game of Edgerrin James’ career with the Arizona Cardinals. Pretty much everyone knows that, and James has said so himself. Thus he could have more on the line than most since this basically is a job interview for the possible future Hall of Famer.

The Arizona offense was incredibly pass-happy during the regular season, rendering James irrelevant for the most part. The Cardinals finished the season last in yards rushing per game (73.6), attempts (21.2) and second-to-last in yards per attempt (3.5).

But while Kurt Warner has been good, the defense has been solid and Larry Fitzgerald has been out of this world in the postseason, there is no doubt the Cardinals aren’t in Tampa right now without a resurgent run game.

“I think it’s meant a tremendous amount to us offensively and even to the whole team, the fact (James is) in there running and being productive and helping us win,” said offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Now, they aren’t lighting it up, but the Cards are giving teams something to think about. James got the featured role back after hitting the century mark in the season finale and hasn’t let go. The Cards are averaging 12 more rushing attempts in the playoffs and 111.0 yards. James has run 52 times for 203 yards.

OK, those aren’t exactly stellar numbers, but consider that James didn’t run that many times for that many yards over the final 11 games of the regular season. And just the threat of him running the ball has aided the offense in terms of more play-action passing.

“The key to winning in the postseason is running the football,” he said. “You can play gadget-ball during the regular season and win games, but you’d better have balance at this time of year. If you don’t, you’re done.”

That brings us to a few James prop bets available. The over/under for his rushing total is 42 ½. While that seems like easy money, be aware that Pittsburgh limited wild-card round star Darren Sproles to just 15 yards in the divisional round. The Baltimore Ravens had just 73 total yards on the ground in the AFC title game. Pittsburgh finished the regular season second to the Vikings in run defense, allowing just more than 80 yards per game.

Still, I would take the over here. If this were in frigid Pittsburgh, then no. And Tim Hightower will steal a few touches, but 45 yards or so should be attainable. The over/under for James’ rushing attempts is 12 ½. He has had 16, 20 and 16 carries this postseason. Thus I love the over there as well.

I don’t like the over of 9 ½ yards for longest rush—Edge isn’t exactly a big-play threat these days but more inside the tackles. James also isn’t a big threat in the passing game, but that over of 7 ½ receiving yards seems like easy money—James had one catch in each of the three playoff games, and all three went for more than 7 ½. That’s one dump-off pass.

Incidentally, James will be going for his second Super Bowl ring. No, he wasn’t with the 2006 Colts when they beat the Bears down in Miami. But his former teammates gave him a ring for all his contributions to Indy before leaving for the desert prior to that season.