I noticed this morning that the Patriots are 6.5 point favorites vs the Jest. ....
Considering the Jets are playing at home and the home field advnatage is usually worth 3 points, this means that they think the Patriots are 9.5 points better than the Jets.
I don't gamble, so this means nothing to me. But from a pure football view point, I think that point spread is rather high. Against a division rival, on their field, first game of the year, I would not have expected to see a spread that high, 3 point tops.
Do they know something that we don't?
What they know, but many posters to the thread may have forgotten is:
Bookmakers don't try to equalize the teams' on-field performance.
It's NOT that the Pats "are 6 1/2 (9 1/2) points better".
They are 6 1/2 points to the bettor
because books want to come as close as possible to drawing
equal money on each side of the bet.
They prosper from the commission (the vig)
... and try to avoid betting on the outcome themselves.