Bettors’ guide to all 50 Super Bowls

Need to know which team won and covered Super Bowl XLV? What about Super Bowl VII or XX? Here is a full summary of the against-the-spread results for all 50 previous Super Bowls. Read »

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Anita Marks and Dave Tuley break down every betting angle of Super Bowl LI, from the game to the most intriguing prop bets and much more. Listen

Chad Millman and Bob Scucci discuss who the wiseguys are picking in Super Bowl LI. Plus, Evan Young (the Get Your Prop Up In Vegas contest winner) joins the show. Listen

Never wears his rings. “They just sit [there],” he said of the souvenirs from his four Super Bowl victories, before repeating that his favorite ring is the “next one.”

Career has flown past. Brady never thought about winning Super Bowls, because, he said, “I never thought I’d be playing in the NFL. It just all happened. It’s my 17th year and it’s still happening. I’ve never really taken the time to have any perspective or anything, because I’ve just been caught up in the moment of playing. It’s just gone very fast.”

Learning to compartmentalize. “We all have busy lives. You guys do too. You know that when you deal with one thing, you kind of have to put everything else aside and be focused on what those things are that you’re dealing with. As a football player, a lot of different things come at you at different times. When I’m dealing with football, that’s where my focus needs to be. I think over the years, you learn about compartmentalization. It’s part of what your life has to be. You can’t bring things from the outside to your job, because everyone is counting on you.”

Kraft like a second father. Describing his relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Brady said, “He has been a second father to me in a lot of ways and given me a lot of advice about things that only someone like he could speak to and relate to.”

Biggest splurge food. Asked by Simone Biles of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team about his favorite splurge food, Brady went with the cheeseburger. “There’s the GOAT,” Brady said, looking in Biles’ direction as he spoke about the greatest of all time. “You’re amazing.”

Has a surf instructor. Who knew? Brady was asked about Australian-born football players and said, “Australians are pretty good surfers. My surf instructor is Australian.”

One word to describe himself. Asked to describe himself in one word, Brady turned to a beat reporter to solicit his opinion. “Consistent,” the reporter said, to which Brady nodded affirmatively and replied: “I’ll go with that.”

Top NBA player to make the transition to NFL. If Brady could add one NBA player to the Patriots’ roster, it would be LeBron James. “Tight end, split him out, throw it up, and he’d come down with a lot of them,” he said.

Catch-22 with experience. Brady hit on the balance of how experience can be good and bad. “There are a lot of 22-year-old golfers who have no fear. They see that big lake in front of the green and they’re trying to go for it in two, and they don’t even see the lake, they just hit it,” he said. “But after you hit a bunch in the lake, you start realizing, ‘Man, I better not hit it in that lake.’ You don’t know those things at 22. But by the time you get to be a certain age, you’re throwing those interceptions on those plays and that starts getting in the way of the risk-taking. You’re always trying to calibrate those things. [Offensive coordinator] Josh [McDaniels] and I talk about that a lot, and he’ll say, ‘What was that?’ And I’ll say, ‘I had a little fear on that.’ And he’ll say, ‘We gotta get rid of that. No fear. This is a no-fear throw.’ For me, so often, I don’t want to make mistakes. And if I do make a mistake in the game, I want to throw the ball in the dirt or miss a receiver in the right spot. We talk about ball possession so much, turnovers, and we have an incredible win percentage when we don’t turn the ball over. But as a quarterback, you can’t kneel on the ball three straight times and punt and think you’re going to win the game. There are inherent risks to every play, and you have to manage those the best you can while still trying to be aggressive. That’s what I’ve learned over the years: when you have to go for it, and when you don’t.”

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His love for the University of Michigan. “It was a tough pick, being from California, to go all the way to the Midwest. But I made a great choice. It’s such a well-rounded school, and to go back there this fall was very special. I never had a chance to do that [at that time of year]. The team has done so great with Coach [Jim] Harbaugh. We just have to figure out how to beat those [Ohio State] Buckeyes. It’s been a thorn in my side.”

Narrowing the focus with 70 plays left. Brady touched on how the offense has 70 plays left in its season, so, he said, “You have to make sure everything there is of critical importance. You don’t often have the luxury of all this extra time, but I think we’ve used it wisely.”

How football challenges him. “You can never master it. It’s always changing. It’s very strategic. It’s all angles, matchups, one-on-ones and decision-making. When you have 11 people trying to execute one play, there are a lot of things that need to happen to execute it at a high level. The only way to be a good team is for everyone to do that. It’s a great sport. Hopefully everyone enjoys it as much as I do.”

Sportsbook operator CG Technology, which took the $1 million bet on the Falcons +3 on Friday, had slightly more money on Atlanta, even with 61 percent of the point spread bets being on the Patriots. A $200,000 bet on New England, also placed on Friday, helped even out the action, according to CG Technology vice president of risk Jason Simbal.

The million-dollar bettor, an account-based customer at CG Technology, risked $1.1 million to win $1 million on the Falcons covering the three points.

MGM’s sportsbook took a $485,000 bet on the Patriots on Friday, after taking some wagers on the Falcons in the “$200,000 to $300,000” range on Thursday. MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood told ESPN on Friday that about 60 percent of the money was on the Patriots at his book.

The Westgate SuperBook was a little more lopsided on the Patriots, with 69 percent of the money on New England as of Saturday morning. But the point spread had not moved off of the Patriots -3, where it opened two weeks ago.

Some shops had increased the juice to New England -3 (-115), meaning bettors would need to risk $115 to win $100 on the Patriots.

“It’s going to take a lot of money to move off of 3,” Frank Kunovic, sportsbook director at Caesars Palace, said.

A lot of money is on the way. Last year, 69 percent of all bets on the Super Bowl at William Hill’s Nevada sportsbook were placed on Saturday and Sunday.

The over/under total was sitting at 59 — the highest ever for a Super Bowl — at most sportsbooks. Like the betting on the point spread, the action was also balanced on the total. Fifty-three percent of the money was on the under at Westgate.

The action was so evenly distributed that several books said the worst-case scenario would be New England winning 31-28, which would cause the spread and the total to result in a push.

“If that’s the score, we will be refunding tickets until 4 a.m.,” Simbal said.

Action also was pouring in on the proposition wagers available, including the coin flip. Kunovic said roughly $100,000 is normally bet on the Super Bowl coin flip each year. As of Saturday morning, 60 percent of the money was on heads.

There’s logic to that thinking.

The Patriots drafted Garoppolo in the second round in 2014. He signed a four-year deal, meaning he is under contract next season, but only for $820,000. This means the Patriots could easily afford to keep him one more season as Tom Brady’s backup.

The problem for New England would be what happens after the 2017 season. Garoppolo could then become a free agent. With Brady showing no signs of slowing down, Garoppolo would probably want to go to a team where he could play, meaning New England would lose him with no compensation.

Given the Patriots drafted Jacoby Brissett in 2016, they might prefer to trade Garoppolo this offseason and get something in return rather than wait a year and lose him for nothing.

Enter the Browns, who need a quarterback and have extra draft picks. If the team wanted to bypass a quarterback in the draft, it could package a couple of its picks and bring Garoppolo to Cleveland. Then, the team could use the rest of its draft picks to fortify its roster.

What would the price for Garoppolo be?

Minnesota gave up first- and fourth-round picks for quarterback Sam Bradford. Kansas City gave up two second-round picks for Alex Smith. The price for Garoppolo would seem closer to the one the Chiefs paid for Smith.

There will be competition. Kyle Shanahan favored Garoppolo in 2014, but the Browns drafted Johnny Manziel. Shanahan will be named coach of the 49ers after the Super Bowl. Chicago also needs a quarterback.