The New England Patriots have bestridden the NFL like a Colossus for the past two decades.
They’ve won the Super Bowl six times since 2002, their most recent triumph coming last year.
With a current record of 10-2, they are once more positioned to do it again. That’s as good a record right now as have any of their major rivals.
There were four others positioned at 10-2 heading into Sunday including current New Jersey sports betting favorite, the Baltimore Ravens. The other three are the Seattle Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints, and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Sea Hawks and the 49ers are tied for top place at present in the NFC West standings. To stay there, though, the 49ers are going to have to beat a Saints team playing on its home Mercedes Benz Superdome this week.
And they are not the favorites. FanDuel’s odds on the game on Friday were: Saints -120, 49ers +250 with the under-over total at 44.5.
Can New England pull it off again?
But getting back to the Patriots and the question, can they pull it off once more?
With two losses and two mediocre wins in their last four games, nobody can be sure of anything right now. They have been replaced by the Ravens (+220) as the Super Bowl favorites – they now share second place at +500 with the Saints.
And there is even a question about them winning this Sunday.
They are playing the more than capable Kansas City Chiefs (8-4) at home in one of the late games. If veteran quarterback Tom Brady and his shaky offence can’t get its act together again, there could be immediate consequences. The Pats could lose top spot on the AFC East standing to the Buffalo Bills.
The New Jersey sports betting industry hasn’t written off New England just yet. Resorts Online ‘s money line odds Friday of -175 for New England and +140 for Kansas City was pretty-much standard. 888sport’s money line odds, for example, were exactly the same.
But there were a good few tipsters who thought differently and here are some of the reasons.
Chiefs are riding high
Whereas The Patriots are coming off a 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans, the Chiefs are riding high. They whipped the Oakland Raiders 40-9 last weekend.
Brady, a major architect in The Patriots rise to football greatness, has been something of a shadow of himself in the past month, possibly because of injury. He is reported to have toe and shoulder problems.
His completion rate in four of his last five games has been lower than 56% and down to 51.1% in his last two. Containing Julian Edleman and James White has seemed to have been a great source of frustration for Brady.
It also says something that New England with 360.8 yards per game (YPG) only ranks 14th in the NFL.
It won’t help their chances of a turnaround that along with Brady, Edelman (shoulder) and WR Mohamed Sanu Sr. (ankle) and Jason McCourty (groin) are all questionable starters this week. On Kansas City’s side RB Damien Williams (rib) DE FranClark (shoulder)are in the same position
New England’s legendary head coach Bill Bellichick and right-hand man Brady have been in some tight spots before. Usually it has been in the first half of the season. And more often than not they have bounced back with famous finishes.
If they are hoping to repeat those heroics this season, they may have to start doing so on Sunday.
If anything, it is this critical factor alone that makes me hesitate to advising you to put your money on the Chiefs. On the surface they are, after all, the better team of the moment.
The full NFL Week 14 program:
(Win/loss records shown in brackets)
Thursday Completed
Dallas 34, Chicago 31
Sunday (1.00pm)
- Panthers (5-7) @ Falcons (3-9)
- Colts (6-6) @ Buccaneers (5-7)
- Dolphins (3-9) @ Jets (4-8)
- 49ers (10-2) @ Saints (10-2)
- Lions (3-8-1)@ Vikings (8-4)
- Broncos (4-8) @ Texans (8-4)
- Ravens (10-2) @ Bills (9-3)
- Bengals (1-11) @ Browns (5-7)
- Redskins (3-9) @ Packers (9-3)
Sunday ( 4.05pm)
- Chargers (4-8) @Jaguars (4-8)
Sunday (4:25pm)
- Steelers (&-5) @ Cardinals (3-8-1)
- Titans (7-5) @ Raiders (6-6)
- Chiefs (8-4) @ Patriots (10-2)
Monday (8:20pm)
- Sea Hawks (10-2) @ Rams (7-5)