The New England Pats suffered their first NFL loss this season when they were beaten 37-20 by the Baltimore Ravens Sunday.
The defeat has not, however, impacted on their prior standing as the Super Bowls LIV favorites of the New Jersey sportsbooks.
The chasing pack led by the New Orleans Saints, the San Francisco 76ers and the Ravens has closed in some. But at around +280 Tom Brady and his reigning Super Bowl champions are still firmly in front.
There were minor differences, but generally, the odds had the other Top-Ten teams trailing Patriots by some distance.
This is how the odds in New Jersey stood on Monday ahead of the NFL’s week 10 matches:
Pats +280
Saints +500
49ers +650
Ravens +10000
Kansas City Chiefs +1000
Green Bay Packers +1300
Dallas Cowboys +2000
Philadelphia Eagles +2200.
Ravens were Week 8’s Top-10 movers
With their unexpected but deserved victory, the Ravens were Week 8’s biggest Top-10 movers. They jumped into a share of 4th place with the Chiefs at +10000, just one spot behind the undefeated 49ers. And yes, this was deservedly so.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson and his Baltimore’s offense always had the measure of the Pats defense. Yes, the same defense that had been stacking up record-setting statistics in their first seven games this season.
And this especially in the first half when the Ravens charged into a 17 point lead with no reply from the champions.
The Ravens weren’t quite as dominant in the second half when Brady and his men picked up 20 points. But Baltimore never looked like losing as they stormed on to another 20 points of their own and came in with a 17-point winning margin.
The San Francisco 49ers are now the NFL’s sole unbeaten team heading into Week 10.
If they are not more highly rated by NJ’s 17 online sportsbooks at this time, it is for one major reason. This is the quality of their opposition so far. It has not been of the highest order as it will be when they next play the surging Seattle Sea Hawks
Seahawks good value at 30/1
The Seahawks right now are looking top value for the +30000 odds on them winning the Super Bowl. They are 7-2 after their defeat of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday and looking like a team going places.
Getting back to the Pats; their defeat might have well sounded a warning they needed. Brady indicated this in a Sunday night interview with Jim Gray on ‘Westwood One’.
He said, “Sometimes when you play a lesser opponent, you can play less-than-great in one phase and get away with it,”
“But that doesn’t happen when you play a really good football team. The Ravens have been playing good all year. They’re doing a great job in their division. They’re a team that’s very tough to beat. We didn’t play up to our level of expectations and they did, and that’s why they got the win.”
Gray asked if playing more lowly opponents before encountering Baltimore had been a disadvantage. Had those games hidden some weaknesses subsequently exposed by Baltimore?
Brady said, even while going undefeated, New England knew they had a weakness. However, the urgency of attending to them was not there when the Patriots were on their winning run.
“There’s no perfect team,” – Brady
“There’s no perfect team” – Brady” I don’t think there’s any perfect team in the NFL that has everything figured out and I don’t think we claim to be that either,” Brady said.
“As long as you are learning from a loss it’s a good loss, absolutely. It’s taking lessons that you learn and trying to understand the things that are getting you beat. The things that aren’t sustainable for winning football. You have to figure those things out.”
The Pat’s schedule gives them a bye this week but gets more challenging after that, they play the Eagles, Cowboys, Texans, and Chiefs ahead.
“We’re gonna take this week and study ourselves pretty hard and then get back to work against another great football team (the Philadelphia Eagles) “We play them on the road, too. That’s what an NFL season is all about.”