AFC Divisional Round: New York Jets @ New England Patriots Sun. Jan. 16^th 2011 4:30pm EST

It has been yet another successful season for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots as they went from a team that was thought to aging and on the decline to arguably the best team in the NFL. With just two losses on the season to the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets, the New England Patriots absolutely dominated the competition this season despite trading away one of their best players in perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss and having an unproven defense filled with young and inexperienced players.

Needless to say, Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick continue to prove that they can dominate no matter what players they have on their roster and will head into the Divisional round of the playoffs as -8.5 point favorites against the division rival New York Jets.

Even though the New York Jets were one of the two teams that were able to get the best of the New England Patriots during the regular season, Tom Brady and company put on a show in their last meeting with the Jets as they absolutely destroyed Rex Ryan’s squad by a score of 45-3. With all the smack talking that has gone on this week between the two teams, this should make for an interesting NFL sports betting matchup.

Over the past two seasons, the Jets have lived and died with their lockdown defense, but this year they have been able to improve drastically on the offensive side of the football with the additions of superstar running back LaDainian Tomlinson and wide receiver Santonio Holmes.

Despite finally getting some good production out of their offense, the Jets are still a streaky football team in terms of putting points up on the board and will almost certainly struggle once again against their hated division rivals.

In my opinion, this game will be much closer than anticipated as the New York Jets should put up a fight this Sunday at Gillette Stadium, but the New England Patriots should come out on top. I can see the Patriots covering the spread though, so taking the Jets at +8.5 would be the best bet.

Odds and lines for this matchup by leading online sportsbooks:

BetDSI Sportsbook:
Spread: New York Jets +8.5 & New England Patriots -8.5
Moneyline: New York Jets +330 & New England Patriots -400
Over/Under: New York Jets 110 over & New England Patriots 110 under (44)

Bookmaker Sportsbook:
Spread: New York Jets +8.5 & New England Patriots -8.5
Moneyline: New York Jets +330 & New England Patriots -400
Over/Under: New York Jets 110 over & New England Patriots 110 under (44)

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