New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots won their first playoff game in seven years on Sunday night in the AFC wild-card round against the Los Angeles Chargers.
With nine teams left in the running for the Lombardi Trophy, Drake Maye and company are now the AFC favorites, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
The sports betting company listed the Seattle Seahawks (+275) as the Super Bowl favorites as of Monday afternoon, with the Los Angeles Rams (+310) not far behind.
New England’s odds are +550 as they await the winner of Monday night’s game between the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round.
The Patriots are followed by the Buffalo Bills (+600), Denver Broncos (+700) and Texans (+1200) among AFC teams, with the Chicago Bears (+1600) and San Francisco 49ers (+2000) rounding out the top eight.
The Steelers are the biggest longshots at +6000.
With Maye and Mike Vrabel widely viewed as MVP and Coach of the Year frontrunners, many NFL analysts hesitated to pick the Patriots as serious Super Bowl threats entering the playoffs.
While Maye wasn’t at his best in Sunday’s win vs. the Chargers, New England’s defense stepped up and now, the Patriots very well could make their first Super Bowl of the decade.
