The New England Patriots have long been popular betting favorites, what with the team being perennial Super Bowl contenders. However, the team will bear with a substantial setback to start the beginning of the season.Quarterback Tom Brady will be suspended for the first four games of the season. This is due to his overall involvement in actions relating to deflating ball before games last year.
Brady will be out for games against Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Dallas. This is a noteworthy point in that the Pats will be starting with either Matt Flynn or Jimmy Garoppolo as the team’s starter during these games. Brady is hoping to appeal the suspension.
Naturally, this has created a good deal of controversy due to the nature of the event but it has also caused the Pats to deal with some changes in the NFL betting lines. For instance, the Patriots aren’t the favorites to win the Super bowl like so many people would expect the reigning champion to be.
The Patriots are only marked with 17-2 betting odds to win the Super Bowl. Interestingly enough, the Seattle Seahawks are 6-1 favorites to win. The Patriots were originally marked at 7-1 odds alongside Green Bay while the Seahawks were still featured at 6-1 to win.
Naturally, much of this comes from the general belief that the Seahawks were more competitive in this past season. However, the loss of Brady for a good part of the season will certainly influence what will go along as the season moves forward.
In terms of the over/under for the total number of wins the Patriots will get this year, the team is listed as having 10.5 wins. This is with a -115 line for either the over or under.
This too is smaller than that of what Seattle has. Seattle has an 11 line for the number of wins to have this year. Green Bay and Indianapolis also have that same total, thus requiring the Pats to hold a good amount of effort to work with to win it all this coming year.