History sort of repeated itself on Sunday night, as the New England Patriots choked again and Eli Manning led the New York Giants to another fourth quarterback in football’s biggest game. But shortly after the closing seconds ticked off and the Giants celebrated “winning” the Super Bowl, the real NFL champions were crowned: the 5-11 Washington Redskins, who finished last in the NFC East.

The Redskins are 2011’s NFL champions because they were 2-0 against the Giants this season, winning both games by double digits — 28-14 at home in Week 1 and 23-10 in New Jersey in Week 15. This is not the first time the Redskins have taken this unusual route to an NFL title — in 1995 Norv Turner’s two-headed quarterback monster of Gus Frerotte and Heath Shuler twice defeated Barry Switzer’s Dallas Cowboys.  While the Cowboys beat the Steelers in that year’s Super Bowl, that 6-10 Redskins squad that finished third in a then five-team NFC East were crowned NFL champions.

Last year, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl XLV. Who’ll score the first touchdown in this year’s Super Bowl? Vegas oddsmakers have tabbed New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski as the player most likely to find the end zone first in Super Bowl XLVI, followed closely by another Patriots tight end, Aaron Hernandez.

The best bet on the Giants to score the game’s first touchdown is wide receiver Victor Cruz. The odds of their not being any touchdowns scored is at 150/1 — quite a longshot considering there’s never been a touchdown-less Super Bowl, and only one team in history has failed to score a touchdown in the Big Game.  Personally, I’d lean towards taking the field at 8/1 as that would cover all defensive and special teams players.

Here are your Super Bowl XLVI First Touchdown Odds:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship presents its 7th UFC Fan Expo event on Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. UFC President Dana White made the announcement today during a press conference to promote UFC 143, which takes place Saturday from the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It is an amazing event for fans of MMA.

“We love giving UFC fans ultimate access to our sport and athletes,” UFC President Dana White said. “This July, we’re putting together our best UFC Fan Expo yet. We’re going to have dozens of our fighters in attendance to sign autographs and meet fans, and we’re going to have some of the world’s top vendors and exhibitors. This is an absolute can’t-miss event for UFC fans around the world!”

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the +140 favorite to win his third Super Bowl MVP award in Super Bowl XLVI, while New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is the next best bet at +225. Quarterbacks have won the award 24 times in 46 Super Bowls, but there are MVP odds on almost a dozen other players on each team if you’re willing to look further.

Giants wideout Victor Cruz has the best odds of any non-quarterback, and makes sense since the last three non-quarterbacks to win Super Bowl MVP were wide receivers, most recently Santonio Holmes three years ago. Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is next at 10/1, but a tight end has never won the award. Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has the best odds of any defensive player — the award hasn’t gone to someone on defense since 2003 (Dexter Jackson).