SOURCE: NY Times

(Hempstead, New York) — David Bowens, a 30-year-old Jets linebacker with a salt-and-pepper beard, has prepared for 119 games in his nine-year National Football League career. He said Thursday that none of the first 118 had felt quite like this.

“They’re a powerhouse,” Bowens said of the 13-0 New England Patriots, “and it’s like nobody is giving us a shot at winning — but us.”

As one indicator, the betting line for Sunday’s game opened at 27 points but has settled at 23½ points, still an enormous spread for an N.F.L. game. (The record is 24 points, for a Dec. 5, 1993 game that San Francisco, the favorite, won against Cincinnati, 21-8).

The aftermath of Spygate and the Patriots’ quest to become the first N.F.L. team to finish 16-0 in the regular season has obscured the fact that the oddsmakers, trying to split the wagering between the two teams, believe the Jets have no chance to win.

“Yeah, it’s a lack of respect from the oddsmakers,” Jets linebacker Brad Kassell said, “but we’re not playing the oddsmakers. We’re not playing those Vegas guys.”

Wide receiver Laveranues Coles said the spread sounded more fitting for a basketball game than a football game. Then he wondered aloud, with a smile, what the point spread would be if the Jets, or the Patriots, were to play the oddsmakers. He seemed to suggest a spread for a game like that would be more than 23½ points.

He also said it might have been equally as insulting to be considered an underdog going into a game against a winless team. The Jets have been there, too. Two weeks ago, Miami, then 0-11, was a 1-point favorite against the Jets, who beat them, 40-13.

“If the point spread played the game for us,” Coles said, “we wouldn’t even show up, then.”

Coles said the point spread was not part of the game plan this week. Jets Coach Eric Mangini said he had not mentioned it to his players, even to motivate them.

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