Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across the NFL powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Lions fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.
The goal for making betting odds in sports is to set a line that should see equal amounts of betting on each side. The goal isn’t to pick who you think will win and by how many point, but to rather pick a line that the betting masses feel appropriate for matchup.
The New England Patriots are favored by seven points on the road against the Detroit Lions this week, and if each team’s fans are any indication, Vegas will be getting a heavy amount of wagering on the Patriots.
In our weekly FanPulse survey, Detroit Lions fans predicted New England to win on Sunday night by nine points. Patriots fans are actually remarkably similar in their predictions, picking New England by an average of 10 points.
None of that is particularly surprising out of each fanbase. The Lions are entering Week 3 winless for only the second time since 2010. The Patriots are coming off a loss, but Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are notorious for how good they bounce back after a loss.
If these FanPulse predictions are representative of the betting community, we may see the Vegas line jump even higher as the game gets closer. As it stands, Lions-Patriots currently has the second-biggest line of the week, only behind Vikings (-17) vs. Bills.