CBS Sports Super Bowl Picks 2015: Experts Favor New England Patriots … Barely

Cincinnati Bengals fans don’t have a lot going on right now, but today is Super Bowl media day, and that means the sound bites are coming in fast and furious. It also means that the game is drawing nearer, and predictions are heating up in all corners.  In the coming days, we’ll review as many expert predictions as possible with an eye toward figuring out who is really better heading into the Big Game.  To kick things off, here are the picks from the crew at CBSSports.com:    

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Pete Prisco : New England Patriots

Jason La Canfora : New England Patriots

Will Brinson : New England Patriots

Jared Dubin : Seattle Seahawks

Ryan Wilson : New England Patriots

John Breech : Seattle Seahawks

Dave Richard : Seattle Seahawks

Jamey Eisenberg : New England Patriots

Prediction Machine : Seattle Seahawks

So, overall, that’s a 5-4 advantage for the Patriots, which seems to match the general perception that these teams are fairly even.  You may be wondering, though, about that “Prediction Machine” entry — what kind of expert is that?

The Prediction Machine is basically a website dedicated to predicting the outcomes of sporting events through repeated simulations using software that they call the Predictalator.   You can read all about it here, but the gist is that they suck in a ton of statistics surrounding both teams and then “plays” every game 50,000 times to figure out a likely outcome and score for the upcoming contest. Depending on how you feel about stats and simulations in general, you might weigh CBS’s Prediction Machine “expert” more or less heavily than the human panel.

It will be fun to watch the Super Bowl news over the next few days to see if anything sways the consensus of experts decidedly one way or the other.  For now, the Seahawks are one-point underdogs, and there seems to be little chance that will change without something big happening this week.

Next: Madden NFL 15 Super Bowl Prediction: Patriots over Seahawks