LAS VEGAS -- The day after the New England Patriots rallied to a 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LII, coach Bill Belichick told reporters, "As great as today is, in all honesty, we're five weeks behind in the 2017 season to most of the teams in the league."
Everyone chuckled at Belichick's quandary, but there's some truth to it. Here at ESPN Chalk, we want to level the playing field for handicappers, so here are our gambling recaps for all 32 teams from the 2016 season, including how each team performed against the spread, over/under game totals and over/under season win totals.
AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West
NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West
AFC East
New England Patriots
2016 season win total: 10.5 (over -120)
Regular-season record: 14-2 (over total by 3.5 games)
ATS record: 13-3 in regular season, 3-0 in playoffs; O/U: 6-10 in regular season, 3-0 in playoffs
The Patriots not only won the Super Bowl after starting the season as 6-1 favorites but also tied the 1989 49ers with the best single-season record against the spread, at 16-3. They won and covered their first three games of the season without Tom Brady before losing 16-0 to the Bills in Week 4 as 3.5-point home favorites. They then won and covered the first four games with Brady in the lineup, to stand at 7-1 SU & ATS heading into their Week 9 bye. They lost 31-24 to the Seahawks in Week 10 as 7.5-point home favorites but won their last seven games of the regular season, with the only other non-cover being their 22-17 victory as 9.5-point road favorites at the Jets in Week 12.
The Patriots easily went over their 10.5-win total in Week 14, when they improved to 11-2. The 13-3 regular-season ATS record is remarkable, considering they had to cover such big spreads; four times they were double-digit favorites, and another four times they were favored by 7.5 to 9.5 points. In the playoffs, they were a perfect 3-0 ATS, including rallying from a 25-point deficit against the Falcons in the Super Bowl to win 34-28 in overtime to cover as 3-point favorites.
The Patriots enter the offseason as 9-2 favorites to repeat as champions, and with the winning culture that coach Bill Belichick and the whole organization have in place -- they even have trade bait in backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo, if they want to go that direction -- there's no reason to think they won't be right in the mix yet again next season.
-- Dave Tuley