Philadelphia celebrates after Eagles win Super Bowl 59

Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a sports betting perspective.From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the sports news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.

ESPN's Super Bowl betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation leading up to the big game.

Coin toss, Gatorade betting markets heat up

Doug Greenberg: With about 24 hours until Super Bowl LIX, the public is increasing its action on bets of all kinds for the big game -- and it's not limited to the play on the field. Let's take a look at how some of the most popular non-conventional prop markets are shaping up.

Coin toss

Believe it or not, the coin toss is perennially one of the most popular Super Bowl prop bets. BetMGM reported coin toss outcome as its most popular prop for this year's game as of Friday morning, and Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel says it is always among the top five most-bet markets each year.

"You don't have to think about it and it's quick action. Everybody likes quick," Feazel told ESPN. "Anybody can have a parlay, you wait for the whole game and you lose in the last two minutes. If you can just win or lose within the first five minutes, people tend to lean towards those."

Although some states do not allow betting on the coin toss, the majority do, and in those states the money thus far is saying, "tails never fails."

At ESPN BET, 61.3% of bets and 61.1% of handle is on tails. The sportsbook reported a $20,945 wager at even money on tails, its largest bet in the market so far; the sportsbooks also took a $7,500 bet on heads.

In Super Bowl history, the coin has landed on tails 30 times and heads 28 times, with the latter hitting in three of the last four games. Heads also has the longest winning streak in Super Bowl history at five.

Gatorade color

Another popular prop involves predicting the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach. Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, this market has seen some serious action and resulting line movement.

ESPN BET reports a whopping 76.3% of handle for the color to be yellow/green, compared to only 16.9% of bets. BetMGM says 50% of money and 24% of bets are on yellow/green, both leading the market. Purple is the second-largest money attractor for both books.

"Ideally, if the Eagles win we'd like them not to use purple or yellow Gatorade as well," BetMGM senior trading manager Christian Cipollini said over email.

The hefty action caused a significant shift in the odds at ESPN BET, with yellow/green opening at +200, moving to -180 on Friday and lengthening further to -190 on Saturday. Purple went from +225 to +325 to +380.

Why are those two colors the top options? The Philadelphia Eagles poured yellow/green on head coach Nick Sirriani after the NFC championship, while purple was the color dumped on Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid in his team's last two Super Bowl victories.

It should be noted that the Gatorade prop is allowed in even fewer states than the coin toss, likely due to the possibility of it being a known result.

"There's someone who knows what the Gatorade color is going to be," said Feazel. "So anything that's almost decided or could be information-based is something that we try to shy away from."

Read more from this article on 6abc.com.

They are two of the more delightful - in Philadelphia - and detestable - to the rest of the league - words that have escalated into the fast-evolving NFL lexicon.

Tush push.

No team has taken advantage of the rugby-style scrum - deemed so unstoppable that the NFL had flirted with the idea of banning the play - quite like the Eagles under coach Nick Sirianni and QB Jalen Hurts.

Sirianni likes to say that every first down for the Eagles is first-and-9.

No example summed up how much the tush push can be a pain in the butt to the opposition quite like when the Eagles used it to maddening perfection against Washington in the NFC championship game. The Commanders jumped offside four times in a sequence of five plays while trying to stop the tush push - earning them a warning from the referee that he could award the Eagles a touchdown if the Commanders did it again.

It sounded implausible but it was true, right there in Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the league's rule book. Titled "Fouls To Prevent Score," it states, "The defense shall not commit successive or repeated fouls to prevent a score." Further, the rule reads that "if the violation is repeated after a warning, the score involved is awarded to the offensive team."

Hurts, as he inevitably does, scored a touchdown.

"It's a great concept, great play, hard to stop," Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "If I was them, I would run it, too."

Oh, they do, on repeat: The Eagles were successful on 28 of 34 tush push attempts this season, according to Next Gen Stats. Overall, Hurts converted 35 of 43 attempts this year on third- or fourth-and-1 from anywhere on field, plus any other runs from the 1-yard line.

That's the incredulous part - teams know the tush push is coming, fans at Lincoln Financial Field go wild when the Eagles line up in TP formation and yet defenses still can't stop the score.

Just don't tell Kansas City.

The Chiefs, who have mastered the art of everything from the improbable comeback win to defying the odds and the injuries that seem insurmountable en route to a third straight Super Bowl, might have unlocked the cheat code on stopping the tush push.

In the AFC title game, the Buffalo Bills converted only twice on six attempts with their tweaked version of the tush push. While the Eagles like to bunch together and push Hurts forward, the Bills and QB Josh Allen tend to lean left in their first-down attempts.

"(KC) put their big guys inside and their linebackers were coming downhill pretty hard," Allen said after the game. "They played it well."

Well enough to stop the Eagles?

The Eagles fell short to Kansas City 38-35 when they played each other in the Super Bowl two years ago, but it wasn't because of the tush push. Hurts scored two touchdowns on the play against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl - and threw for 304 yards and accounted for four total TDs - and then used the play against the Chiefs in the 2023 season to score the winning touchdown.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, whose complicated defensive playbook and reliance on blitzes are a big reason why the team is back on the NFL's biggest stage, has had at least two weeks to devise a scheme to stop Hurts.

"I think the Eagles have perfected this thing over however many years it's been and that offensive line, I think they're built for it," Spagnuolo said. "They could take that O-line and win some rugby tournaments. They're that big and physical and they've really perfected the way they do it. I think it's really tough to stop."

Those teams that can't stop it start making excuses.

Consider, Green Bay president and CEO Mark Murphy wrote on the team's website after the Packers were eliminated by the Eagles that the tush push is " bad for the game."

"There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less," Murphy wrote. "The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous. ... I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the run."

Ban the tush push?

Sirianni can only scoff at critics who hate on the play.

"The success that we have is not always replicated around the entire league," Sirianni said. "We saw it last week with the game plan we're studying with Kansas City against Buffalo. Stopped them in a critical situation. I guess I'm lobbying to never change that rule because we're successful at it. We're successful at it because of the guys we have up front."

The Eagles played to near push-perfection this season even after Cam Jurgens replaced the retired Jason Kelce at center. It helps having a quarterback who can squat the weight of about three Saquon Barkleys in Hurts and a stout offensive line that features Pro Bowl stars Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson.

Controversial or not, just maybe the Eagles can use the push to sneak away with a Super Bowl win.

Two officials on the crew who will be presiding over Super Bowl LIX are in their third season of NFL officiating, which two former league heads of officiating said is a notable difference from the custom of prioritizing experience for the Super Bowl.

In the past, NFL officials have needed five or more years of officiating experience in the league to qualify for Super Bowl consideration.

The league's officiating department restructured this past offseason and hired former umpire Ramon George as vice president of officiating training and development, succeeding Walt Anderson in the role.

George told ESPN he was responsible for assigning the Super Bowl crew.

"It's not collectively bargained to have a certain number of years [of experience]," George said. "That's just a rule that whomever is in the position to select, that is their philosophy. I don't live by that philosophy. If you are the best, then you should be on the field."

Down judge Max Causey and umpire Mike Morton, a former NFL player, are both in their third NFL seasons as officials, and it will be the third career postseason assignment for each. Morton also officiated the NFC Championship Game, which strayed from another previous custom that kept Super Bowl officials out of the championship games to avoid any risk of controversy occurring in that round that might affect the Super Bowl.

"That's a huge departure," Mike Pereira, who was the NFL's VP of officiating from 2004 to 2009 and is now a rules analyst for Fox, told reporters from the Super Bowl media center on Thursday.

Read more at ESPN.com

Several parking restrictions went into effect on Saturday afternoon in Center City Philadelphia, and more will go into effect in other parts of the city on Sunday.

A "No Parking Zone" is now in effect along the S. Broad Street corridor and around City Hall.

There will also be temporary parking restrictions in the following areas starting Sunday:

-Along the side streets of S. Broad Street from Lombard Street to Chestnut Street

-Around S. Broad Street in South Philadelphia.

-Around Cottman and Frankford avenues in Northeast Philadelphia.

Vehicles parked in any of these locations during posted hours may be relocated, city officials said.

If you believe your car has been relocated, call the police district of the area where your car was parked.

For more, visit this page at Phila.gov.