The New England Patriots are gaining buzz as a trendy sleeper team, but not everyone is on board.<\/p>\n
Many onlookers expect the Patriots to improve drastically from a 4-13 season. They\u2019re even drawing some traction as a candidate to jump from worst to first<\/a> place in the AFC East under head coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n Las Vegas may not project the Pats as Super Bowl contenders, but an 8.5 win total indicates elevated expectations in 2025. The Athletic\u2019s Vic Tafur <\/a>warned everyone to slow down the hype train when picking the Patriots to finish under that win total among his best NFL bets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like Mike Vrabel fine, but to hear people talk this offseason, the new Patriots coach is a combination of Vince Lombardi and Bill Belichick,\u201d Tafur wrote. \u201cNew England is coming off back-to-back four-win seasons and was not favored in a single game last season. The Patriots had a point differential of -128. Now, thanks to Vrabel and an aggressive offseason, the Patriots are picked to more than double their win total.\u201d<\/p>\n Tafur said fans should \u201cstop blowing up the Hall of Fame balloons\u201d for Vrabel, who took the Tennessee Titans to three straight postseasons before going 13-21 in his last two seasons.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n The betting markets had no faith in the Patriots last season, but they\u2019re favored in 11 of this season\u2019s games due to a favorable schedule<\/a>. Eight of those matchups are against teams with five wins or fewer in 2024, so modest progression could help them approach a .500 record.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n