Patriots vs. Broncos Odds: Spread Continues to Move Towards Denver in AFC Title Game

Are the Denver Broncos in place to pull off an upset in the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots?

The latest betting odds at DraftKings Sportsbook have moved in a big way in Denver's favor ahead of Sunday's kickoff, and interesting development with the Broncos set to start backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham.

After opening as a 5.5-point underdog at home in this matchup, the Broncos have moved to 3.5-point home dogs just hours before kickoff on Sunday. Denver is without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who broke his ankle in the divisional round win over the Buffalo Bills, yet the line has continued to shift towards the home team all week.

The Broncos have just one loss at home this season, and the lookahead lines for the AFC title game (before the divisional round) had Denver as a 1.5-point favorite at home in a hypothetical matchup with New England. So, the Broncos had moved a touchdown (to 5.5-point dogs) in the immediate aftermath of Nix being ruled out for the season.

Even though DraftKings has received 71 percent of the spread bets on the Patriots to cover in this game, all of the movement has been towards Denver. This could be a sign that sharps are hammering the Broncos to cover in this game. In NFL history, there have been 10 times over the past 50 years where a road team has been favored by four points in a playoff game.

In those games, the road team is 0-10 against the spread. That trend is now moot with this line moving to 3.5, but it's something worth noting since the Patriots opened the week as 5.5-point favorites.

Stidham has made just four starts in his NFL career, but clearly some bettors believe in him to at least keep Denver close in this gmae, The Patriots, who have covered in both of their playoff games so far, have not been nearly as dominant as they were in the regular season against the easiest schedule in the NFL.

It'll be interesting to see if there is any late action on either side that moves this line again ahead of kickoff on Sunday.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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