by Jazz Ray
Tuesday, Nov 11, 2025The New England Patriots will be double-digit favorites against the New York Jets when they christen Week 11 on Thursday night in Foxboro. Shades of 2017, when the Pats laid waste to the league in winning 16 straight regular-season games, and no number to cover seemed out of reach.
At 8-2, no team in the NFL has a better record than the reincarnation of the team that dominated the 2000s with six Super Bowl titles and nine appearances. They have won seven straight games, and were it not for a bizarre loss to the Raiders on opening day and a defeat to the Steelers on a lost fumble at the goal line, they would be 10-0.
It would take an upset of mega proportions on Thursday for the Pats not to be 9-2 on Friday morning, having posted more wins than in the last two (4-13) seasons combined. At 7-3 ATS, they have the third-best record in the league. Bettors have been cashing big-time at casino sportsbooks in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Did anyone see this coming? Uh, no. Not the oddsmakers, who pegged the Patriots at between 4 or 5 wins. Certainly not the schedule makers, who consigned the Pats to a slew of 1 pm games and kept them away from the larger national audiences at 4:15 and at night. Certainly not the media, which questioned whether they could even cover that low number.
Those 4-13 seasons were piloted by Bill Belichick (2023) and former Patriot linebacker Jerod Mayo. Another former LB, Mike Vrabel, then entered the fray and has engineered an amazing turnaround. But Vrabel hasn’t done it alone.
Stung by accusations that he was cashing TV checks and not investing in the on-field product, owner Robert Kraft opened his checkbook and basically bought Vrabel a defense. The massive rebuild included the likes of LB Harold Landry, DT Khyisis Tonga, DE K’Lavon Chaisson, CB Carlton Davis, DT Milton Williams, and LB tackling machine Robert Spillane. The result: NE has given up an average of 79 yards rushing per game, by far the best number in the league.
Left for dead after that Week 1 Raiders loss, the offense has gotten off the mat and rallied behind QB Drake Maye, who has morphed from most improved to +275 MVP favorite in a matter of a month. He has led the team to seven straight wins, with a probable 8th coming on Thursday. Using a wide receiver grouping that was trashed by media and fans at the start of the season, the offense has opened up behind Maye and re-born WR Stephon Diggs. Even the O-Line, atrocious last season and the beginning of this one, is starting to get its footing.
The schedule – littered with teams with losing records – has made things a bit easier. NE owns wins over Cleveland, Tennessee, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Miami (combined record of 11-36). But the Pats also have defeated Buffalo in a game that started to flip the standings in the AFC East, and last Sunday against a very good Tampa Bay team. Both of those wins came on the road, where NE is undefeated.
The upcoming schedule looks very doable – the Jets twice, the Giants, and Miami among the final seven. A win over the Bills at home on Dec. 14 could nail down the AFC East. For the record, NE is now favored to win the division at -240, a complete turnaround from the pre-season odds (+550). How about the Super Bowl? They’ve gone from +12500 to an in-the-conversation +1800.
No one talks about Bill Belichick much anymore in New England. And people are starting to compare Maye to that Tom guy who has a statue outside Gillette Stadium. The page has been turned, and football is back in New England.
At 8-2, no team in the NFL has a better record than the reincarnation of the team that dominated the 2000s with six Super Bowl titles and nine appearances. They have won seven straight games, and were it not for a bizarre loss to the Raiders on opening day and a defeat to the Steelers on a lost fumble at the goal line, they would be 10-0.
It would take an upset of mega proportions on Thursday for the Pats not to be 9-2 on Friday morning, having posted more wins than in the last two (4-13) seasons combined. At 7-3 ATS, they have the third-best record in the league. Bettors have been cashing big-time at casino sportsbooks in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Did anyone see this coming? Uh, no. Not the oddsmakers, who pegged the Patriots at between 4 or 5 wins. Certainly not the schedule makers, who consigned the Pats to a slew of 1 pm games and kept them away from the larger national audiences at 4:15 and at night. Certainly not the media, which questioned whether they could even cover that low number.
Those 4-13 seasons were piloted by Bill Belichick (2023) and former Patriot linebacker Jerod Mayo. Another former LB, Mike Vrabel, then entered the fray and has engineered an amazing turnaround. But Vrabel hasn’t done it alone.
Stung by accusations that he was cashing TV checks and not investing in the on-field product, owner Robert Kraft opened his checkbook and basically bought Vrabel a defense. The massive rebuild included the likes of LB Harold Landry, DT Khyisis Tonga, DE K’Lavon Chaisson, CB Carlton Davis, DT Milton Williams, and LB tackling machine Robert Spillane. The result: NE has given up an average of 79 yards rushing per game, by far the best number in the league.
Left for dead after that Week 1 Raiders loss, the offense has gotten off the mat and rallied behind QB Drake Maye, who has morphed from most improved to +275 MVP favorite in a matter of a month. He has led the team to seven straight wins, with a probable 8th coming on Thursday. Using a wide receiver grouping that was trashed by media and fans at the start of the season, the offense has opened up behind Maye and re-born WR Stephon Diggs. Even the O-Line, atrocious last season and the beginning of this one, is starting to get its footing.
The schedule – littered with teams with losing records – has made things a bit easier. NE owns wins over Cleveland, Tennessee, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Miami (combined record of 11-36). But the Pats also have defeated Buffalo in a game that started to flip the standings in the AFC East, and last Sunday against a very good Tampa Bay team. Both of those wins came on the road, where NE is undefeated.
The upcoming schedule looks very doable – the Jets twice, the Giants, and Miami among the final seven. A win over the Bills at home on Dec. 14 could nail down the AFC East. For the record, NE is now favored to win the division at -240, a complete turnaround from the pre-season odds (+550). How about the Super Bowl? They’ve gone from +12500 to an in-the-conversation +1800.
No one talks about Bill Belichick much anymore in New England. And people are starting to compare Maye to that Tom guy who has a statue outside Gillette Stadium. The page has been turned, and football is back in New England.
