The New England Patriots have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. They are also playing at Gillette Stadium. Therefore, regardless of who the opponent is, they are going to be favored. Brady and Belichick’s Patriots are solid favorites over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night in the National Football League’s regular season opener, laying 7.5 points, according to BOVADA.
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New England is currently the largest favorite in Week 1, with the Green Bay Packers slotting in second as a touchdown-favorite over the Chicago Bears. Green Bay is also on the road, meaning if the game was in Lambeau Field, the Packers would be giving 13 points.
The Patriots are 8-4 against the spread over their last 12 games, while the Steelers are sporting a 4-1 mark ATS in their previous five contests, per Oddsshark. Even more impressive is New England’s home record over the last 19 games, only dropping one game. The Patriots are virtually untouchable in Gillette Stadium, and had their chances dramatically increased for Thursday’s game when Tom Brady had his four-game suspension overturned.
Per Oddsshark, 56 percent of the betting has been favoring the Patriots to cover the spread. The over/under is set at 51, with 61 percent of the action favoring the over.
Pittsburgh has enjoyed some success against New England in the Ben Roethlisberger era, but it has been limited. Roethlisberger beat New England in his rookie year of 2004 en route to the Steelers going 15-1, but they were drummed by the Patriots at Heinz Field in the AFC Championship Game that year.
The last five meetings between the two franchises have seen a 3-2 edge going to New England. The most recent game was on Nov. 3, 2013, when the Patriots rolled to a 55-31 victory, in a contest that saw both teams combined for over 1,000 total yards.