Poll: Will the Patriots cover Sunday in Cincinnati?

Ahh, yes. Brace yourselves, Patriots fans, for this is the type of year we are about to embark on. Where the bar is lowered so much, that we're wondering if they can stay within the Vegas line in the season-opener, rather than trying to start the year 1-0.

The Bengals opened the week originally as 9.5-point favorites but that number dipped to 7.5 as there became a question of whether or not Cincy wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase would carry his contract dispute over into an in-season holdout.

It would have been much appreciated had he taken that route, but Chase showed up to practice on Wednesday and the line quickly moved back to Cincinnati -8.5 which is where it has since settled.

So, can the Pats hang within one score?

One thing potentially working in New England's favor is that the Bengals, during Joe Burrow's first four years, have been notoriously slow starters out of the gate. In Burrow's rookie year, a bad Bengals team began the year 2-7-1 before he suffered a torn ACL. In '21, they started 5-4 before making it all the way to the Super Bowl, as was the case in '22 before making it to the AFC Championship Game. Last year, the Bengals were 5-5 before Burrow got hurt and missed the remainder of the year.

So maybe the time is right for the Pats to pounce and catch Cincy before they get into a groove.

ESPN's matchup predictor gives the Bengals a 75% chance of winning the opener, but we're not talking straight-up here, were talking ATS.

Can the Pats hang in the opener? Or will Cincinnati have no problem dispatching the Pats by multiple scores?