Super Bowl LV betting: Tom Brady snaps weird streak of first quarter shutouts, Gronk cashes first TD prop
It made no sense why Tom Brady struggles so much in the first quarter of Super Bowls. It’s not like he hadn’t been on the stage before.
Perhaps the weirdest trend of Brady’s postseason career was that in his first nine Super Bowls, his teams scored three total points. He obviously had no touchdown passes. That streak finally ended in Super Bowl LV, as Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for the first touchdown of the game, giving the Buccaneers a 7-3 lead with 37 seconds left in the quarter.
Gronkowski was the right call for the first player to score a touchdown prop, which was the most-bet prop for Super Bowl LV at BetMGM. Gronkowski was +1800 to score the first TD, and +200 to score anytime.
The Bucs almost didn’t beat the clock to score in the first quarter. Despite getting the ball first, they didn’t even cross midfield until a little more than three minutes remained.
Bettors who thought there was something to Brady’s first-quarter issues other than random coincidence were rewarded. The over/under for the first quarter of the Super Bowl at BetMGM was 10.5. The Chiefs got just a field goal — Chiefs field goal being the first score of the game was a juicy +550 winner — but the score went under even with Gronkowski’s late touchdown.
It only took Brady 10 Super Bowl first quarters to get a touchdown, but he got it. Barely.
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