Fresh off their worst season in three decades, the New England Patriots have just begun what is likely to be a multi-year rebuild. Accordingly, expectations are tempered heading into the first game of the 2024 NFL season.
Look no further than the current odds, courtesy of FanDuel. The Patriots head into their Week 1 contest against the Cincinnati Bengals as the biggest underdog in the entire league: they are listed as +9.5, meaning that the oddsmakers believe that a even a one-score loss would be a surprising outcome.
No other team in football is even in the same stratosphere in that regard. The 6.5-point underdog Arizona Cardinals taking on the Buffalo Bills is the next game on that list.
It is not hard to see why the Patriots are in their current position. The team is a relative unknown heading into the season: new head coach, new starting quarterback, some big names gone on the defensive side of the ball. While everything is possible and New England could pull off a surprise — any given Sunday, yadda, yadda, yadda — the odds are quite literally against Jerod Mayo’s team.
Patriots-Bengals will be kicked off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 8.
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