Oddsshark recently released over/under regular season win totals for National Football League teams.

Here is a look at the New England Patriots in the AFC East.

Over/under

Oddsshark has New England at 10.5 regular season wins. Last year, the Patriots were 12-4 in the regular season.

The upside

When will Tom Brady step onto the playing field? When that question is answered, it should give a clearer picture on what to make of the projected win total for the New England Patriots.

Brady’s four-game suspension is currently in the court system, and nobody can come to a consensus if that will be reduced. Despite the uncertainty, the over/under has moved little since the lines were released a few months ago.

The number dipped to 10 wins, but has since returned to the original projection of 10.5.

Obviously having Brady for the season’s duration would strengthen the potential at achieving the over. Even without Brady, the Patriots should still feature enough playmakers to be a top-tier team in the AFC.

Rob Gronkowski is coming back and will once again be a beast on offense. The offensive line returns all but one starter, and the receiving corps has stayed intact. And although Sharen Vereen and Stevan Ridley left via free agency, the Patriots have shown the ability to plug anybody in the running back position and get results.

And despite Brady’s absence for four games, the Patriots can still lean on head coach Bill Belichick.

The downside

The defense may take a step back, which should worry bettors backing the Patriots, especially in the early-going if Brady can’t play.

Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and Vince Wilfork are gone from last year’s unit. The secondary will definitely be worse than last year, which in the NFL, should cause concern since every team focuses more on passing than running.

And to get to 11 wins, it can’t be ignored that Brady could miss the first four games. In those games, the Patriots will host Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, and travel to Buffalo and Dallas.

Even without Brady, the Patriots should be favored in at least one of those games, but there’s a real possibility the Patriots could be 1-3 when he returns. If that’s the case, then New England would have to win 10 of its final 12 games to achieve the over.

There’s no guarantee that Brady won’t be a little rusty either when he returns. On the bright side, though, Brady should be extra motivated, and that’s dangerous for the opposing teams. But it could take a few games to knock off the rust of sitting out for the last eight months.

The verdict

Despite owning the AFC East for the past 14 seasons — 12 AFC East titles — this year may not be as easy. Miami and Buffalo are better this year. There’s plenty of talent on both of those rosters, and if quarterback play doesn’t hinder them, those squads should give any team a competitive contest on a weekly basis.

That doesn’t bode well for the Patriots, which will attempt to keep a stronghold on the division, while also meandering through deflategate. At this point, the safest bet would be to take the under, especially since the hook provides bettors the ability to capitalize on the Patriots winning 10 games and still satisfying the under.

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