SOURCE: www.newsday.com

'It's kind of mind-boggling," John Avello said yesterday from his Las Vegas office, studying months worth of Patriots point spreads and facing at least two more weeks of odd odds for Bill's Bullies.

"They're shocking, they really are ... If you asked me before this year, I'd have said there'd be no way we'd see 20."

Twenty? That's old hat now.

Avello, director of race and sports operations at Wynn Las Vegas, said if the Pats rout the Jets on Sunday and the Dolphins lose big to the Ravens, next week's Dolphins-Patriots game could open at a shocking 30-point spread.

(The NFL Network's Deion Sanders on the Pats' next two opponents: "They could beat those guys on the same day.")

First things first: Avello opened the Jets game at 24, amazingly high yet below his closing number for Eagles-Pats Nov. 25 - which at Wynn opened at 23 and closed at 25.

That turned out to be the first of two consecutive spreads the Patriots (10-3 ATS) failed to cover after an early run that cost sports books a bundle. Their slight stumble probably will keep the spread from growing out of control this week. Probably.

Keith Glantz, co-author of the Glantz-Culver line, told AP he opened the Pats at 27, but his line soon dropped to 24 because of the possibility of poor playing conditions. Other books have it at 24½. Jay Kornegay is sports book director at the Las Vegas Hilton, whose line opened at 25; now it's 24. "It's something we've never seen before in our era," he said. "It's a very difficult number to make every week. It's a challenge." Records are not well kept when it comes to spreads, but the Nov. 25 Eagles game and this week's are in the same ballpark as some of the biggest figures on record, including 24 for a Steelers-Buccaneers game in 1976 and 23 for 49ers-Bengals in 1993.

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